Report on Assembly Committee Priorities for European Scrutiny in 2014

Session: 2013/2014

Date: 19 March 2014

Reference: NIA 159/11-15

ISBN: 978-0-339-60517-6

Mandate Number: Mandate 2011/15 Eleventh Report

committee-priorities-for-european-scrutiny-in-2014.pdf (6.17 mb)

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Introduction

1. This report details the European priorities for scrutiny by Assembly statutory committees in 2014. Selection of these priorities is based upon the European Commission Work Programme for 2014, as envisaged in the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister (‘the Committee’) report on its Inquiry into Consideration of European Issues.1

2. The European Commission produces a work programme at the beginning of its mandate which includes details of both legislative and non-legislative initiatives planned for the term of the Commission. This work programme is updated on an annual basis in the autumn.

3. Assembly Research and Information Services (RaISe) produce an analysis of the annual work programme focusing on issues which are devolved and of specific relevance or interest to the Assembly committees, based upon a set of criteria which were agreed by the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister on 24 October 2012. A copy of this analysis is contained in Appendix 3.

4. The Committee considered the RaISe analysis at the meeting of 11 December 2013 and agreed to forward the analysis to the statutory committees and request a response detailing their European priorities for the year ahead. In recognition that 2014 is the final year in the term of this Commission lead by José Manuel Barroso and accordingly the number of proposals in the Commission’s Work Programme for 2014 is significantly smaller than in other years, statutory committees were invited to include details of other European related activity which they plan to undertake this year.

5. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office produced an Explanatory Memorandum on the European Commission Work Programme (CWP) which outlines the most significant initiatives in the CWP and the Government’s initial views on them, including assessment of subsidiarity concerns. This Explanatory Memorandum also includes details of measures within the Commission Work Programme of interest to the devolved administrations:

6. ‘The Northern Ireland Executive has a close interest in the new measures under the Multi-annual Financial Framework, Common Agricultural and Fisheries Programmes, Regional Aid, the Connecting Europe Facility, Horizon 2020 and the European Social Fund 2014-20. The Northern Ireland Executive will also wish to follow developments in energy policy and technology, climate change adaptation, waste policy, youth unemployment, free movement of workers, public procurement and the tobacco products directive.’2

7. The Committee agreed to forward this Explanatory Memorandum to the statutory committees in order to inform consideration and selection of European priorities for the year ahead.

8. Action 2 of the Committee’s Inquiry into Consideration of European Issues states: ‘statutory committees will be responsible for the scrutiny of all European issues of relevance to the committee. In the autumn of each year statutory committees will be requested to provide a report of activity on European issues to the Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. The Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister will formulate all contributions into one report to the Assembly which will be submitted to the Business Committee for Plenary debate.’3

9. In order to streamline the reporting process, in addition to seeking a response from statutory committees on planned European engagement in 2014, the Committee asked statutory committees to also provide a brief report on activity undertaken on the 2013 European priorities as detailed in the Committee report on Assembly Committees – Priorities for European Scrutiny in 20134.

10. A synopsis of the European priorities for 2014 selected by Assembly committees is overleaf. The full reports prepared by each committee including summaries of the activity undertaken in 2013 are in Appendix 2.

11. The Committee agreed to write to the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister to seek details of the Northern Ireland Executive’s European priorities for 2014. The Committee also wrote to the Northern Ireland Members of the European Parliament, Members of the Committee of the Regions and representatives on the European Economic and Social Committee for their views on priority areas for European engagement in the year ahead. These responses are contained within Appendix 4.

12. The Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister will seek to hold a plenary debate on this report early in 2014.

1 NIA 33/09/10R

2 Document 15521/13 + ADD.1 Explanatory Memorandum on European Union Documents, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 15 November 2013

3 NIA 33/09/10R

4 NIA 108/11-15

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