Chamber and committees

I thank you both for your attendance at committee. Your contributions have been really helpful. We will suspend briefly to allow us swap over panels.

Welcome back. The second item on our agenda is a continuation of our inquiry into the Scottish Government’s international work. We welcome to the committee David McAllister MEP, chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. I invite Mr McAllister to make a brief opening statement.

Thank you very much. I would like to open with—[Interruption.] Are you okay?

Thank you.

Thank you. Mr Salamone, in your submission, you state:

“Scotland currently lacks a sufficient policy culture on European and international relations”.

Could you expand on that and suggest how we might develop that policy and deliver it?

Thank you. We move to questions from Mr Ruskell.

As long as you hear us, that is the main thing.

We as a devolved Parliament have had a very good relationship with Europe and, as you mentioned, there has been a lot of co-operation between our predecessor committees and Europe in the past. The situation was simpler when we were aligned with and part of the European Union. As a committee that scrutinises the Government, we are, obviously, concerned about the level of scrutiny that there is and how we might be able to work with the European Union to ensure transparency around the TCA decisions. Do you have any light to shine on how we might be able to work with the Committee on Foreign Affairs in order to do that scrutiny?

As you may know, I wrote a report for the committee’s predecessor, in which I looked at how certain regions and countries engage with the EU. There are a number of good examples. The Basque Country comes to mind as a region that is involved as part of an EU member state. It is well known in Brussels for its successes in industry 4.0, in vocational training and in advanced manufacturing through its smart specialisation strategy. People in the EU institutions may often listen to what the Basque Country has to say on those issues. It is an area where the Basques have developed, if not niche expertise, certainly a profile for themselves in Brussels and they focus on that. I would say that they are successful—[Inaudible.]

Good morning and a warm welcome to the 13th meeting in 2021 of the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee. We have received apologies from Donald Cameron.

Our first agenda item is the continuation of our inquiry into the Scottish Government’s international work. Today, we will hear from our second panel on the topic. We are joined by Anthony Salamone, managing director of European Merchants, and Dr Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive and chief economist at the European Policy Centre. I welcome you both to the meeting and thank Mr Salamone for his submission.

We will move straight to questions. I have a couple of opening questions. Dr Zuleeg, in your briefing for the previous session’s Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee’s legacy report, you stated:

“the representation of Scottish interests in the EU will be crucial for businesses but also at a policy level. Paradoxically, leaving the European Union will require a higher degree of investment into these relationships, as Scotland has lost the automatic right to be at the table, which it previously enjoyed via the UK as a member state.”

I would be interested to hear your views on how open the European Union will be to engaging directly with the Scottish Government. What do you think will be the main challenges in representing Scottish interests in the EU?

You mentioned the parliamentary work that is happening. We have been working with our devolved Assembly counterparts in the devolved legislatures and have asked for observer status in the PPA arrangements at Westminster. That is supported by the relevant House of Lords committee. Do you have a view on that? Would you support that approach?