Draft minutes of the last two meetings of the joint committee, on 23 and 24 April, have been circulated. Are the minutes of those meetings agreed? Agreed.
Correspondence received since the last meeting has been circulated. Item No.119 is a letter to the Chairman from the Minister for Foreign Affairs acknowledging receipt of the committee's interim report on the Lisbon reform treaty. Is it agreed to note that correspondence? Agreed.
Item No.120 is a proposal from the Dutch parliament regarding the practical implementation of the yellow and orange card procedures under the Lisbon reform treaty. The proposal will be put forward to the COSAC meeting in Slovenia, which takes place next week. The proposal suggests setting up a sub-formation of COSAC with the participation of each of the 27 national parliaments. This body would collectively co-ordinate and guide the scrutiny of EU legislative proposals in each of the national parliaments for compliance with the subsidiarity principle. Meetings of the body would take place at least every two months. The final decision on casting the yellow or orange card would be taken under the auspices of this body. We have discussed this proposal before and I was involved in the debate as Chairman of this committee five or six years ago. At the time, the feeling was that there was too much of a gap when COSAC met every six months. There was a lack of continuity and it was felt necessary to bring forward some kind of debate. The problem was that MEPs were not as enthusiastic about that proposal. As a result Mr. Martin became involved and it was shelved. It was dealt with at the COSAC meeting in Stockholm. At a working dinner, we met members of a Dutch delegation who are sponsoring this. I think we should run with it but not give final approval at this particular COSAC meeting. The committee should discuss the matter again at a subsequent meeting. I am not all that happy about another body taking an initiative that might not necessarily reflect the views of our national parliament to the same extent. My advice is that we should progress cautiously with regard to this matter. I would like to question further some of the matters raised by the Dutch delegation. With the agreement of members, we will adopt a holding position and I will revert to the committee again.
