Seòmar agus comataidhean

The second agenda item is a decision on taking business in private. Are members content to consider in private at future meetings the draft reports on the national outcomes and on the inquiry into the review of the European Union and United Kingdom trade and co-operation agreement?

Members indicated agreement.

Our third agenda item is an evidence session as part of the committee’s inquiry into the review of the EU-UK trade and co-operation agreement. We are joined online by Angus Robertson, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture. He is joined from the Scottish Government by Frank Strang, who is the deputy director for European relations, and Nick Leake, who is the deputy director of the European Union office.

I invite the cabinet secretary to make a short opening statement.

Thank you very much, cabinet secretary. I open with a question regarding evidence that we heard during the inquiry from businesses, all of whom told us about a structural disadvantage in exporting to the EU, in relation to added costs and the time involved. It became clear that larger exporters and organisations were much better placed to absorb those costs than small and medium-sized enterprises, which we also met and visited.

The Scotch Whisky Association told us that

“It is much easier for companies if they know what the requirements are—even if there is a bit of a burden in that—than if their product lands at a port in the EU and is held there while people run around trying to find a document that has been asked for, which they were not expecting”,

and that, although “those issues have reduced” for exporters,

“they have not completely gone away.”—[Official Report, Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee, 8 February 2024; c 21.]

The Scottish Government is limited when it comes to the workings of the TCA and its review, but what are you and agencies such as Scottish Development International doing to support Scottish businesses, particularly SMEs, in trading with Europe? In what ways has your approach changed since the TCA came into play?

I think that questions from the committee have been exhausted, cabinet secretary, so I thank you and your officials again for your attendance this morning.

As this is our final meeting before the summer recess, I thank all members, officials and advisers for their hard work in what has been a busy year for us. I hope that everyone manages to have a well-deserved break over the summer, and I look forward to seeing you all again in September.

I do not think that committee members have any further questions. Cabinet secretary, I will finish by coming back to you on a few points that we have covered. You talked about the offer from the Commission on youth mobility. It is always worth emphasising that, in European terms, that means people who are aged under 30, so that is a big offer to the UK on the mobility of young people and opportunities that are so important for education but also for other areas. You expressed your hope that that offer will be revisited.

However, it would be remiss of the committee, given our full title, not to examine the culture sector and the problems for touring artists, particularly for our traditional artists and those who want to go to Europe but are now finding it prohibitively expensive and are therefore losing out on bookings across Europe. Can you provide a little more information on what Creative Europe membership would mean for our artists, if it were to happen? Would it solve the issues for our touring artists?

Thank you.

Thank you once again for your attendance. No doubt we will be back in contact after the election as we continue to pursue our inquiry on the TCA.

You mentioned the PPA. The deputy convener and I sit as observers from Scotland on the PPA, although we are allowed to take part in the break-out sessions and to occasionally speak in the plenary sessions. What is your relationship like with the PPA? It has come out with some priorities, including youth mobility, and there was some movement from the Commission on that. How do you interact with the PPA?

You talked about a reset in Brussels and a reboot of relationships, and most of us think that there will be an opportunity for that later this year. You also mentioned big geopolitical issues such as the economy and the war in Ukraine. Many of the incoming members of the European Parliament who will sit on the PPA will not have worked with UK MEPs, and those relationships are diluted over time, so what is the best way of strengthening and building on those relationships come the autumn?

That exhausts our questions. I thank you all for your attendance. We are all waiting with bated breath to see what both sets of elections bring. Certainly, the committee engages strongly with the UK DAG and I am sure, given what you have said today, that we will open that up to working further with you in our role in the Parliament. Thank you very much. On that note, I close this meeting.

That is super. Thank you all for those opening statements. I move to questions from the committee.