Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As many of these instruments are due to be revisited in the not-too-distant future we are not entirely convinced that this procedure is necessary but I am not unduly excited about it either. There is always a degree of concern on the part of member states when the Commission is making proposals of this nature. There might be a little more to it and member states might find that some decisions or something that is perceived to be a mind change might be made without the necessary consultation or engagement and this can give rise to tensions. However, we are happy to engage on this and I believe it is important that we do so. Ultimately, if the overall view of most states was to accept the Commission's proposals I would not lose too much sleep over it either. It is one of these things that we think we should constructively engage in. It will involve some further consultation between the member states.

This is always the difficulty with the procedure we have. We are asking people to opt in to facilitate our engaging in a discussion of an instrument that has not been finalised. That is why the protocol is in place and also so that the Parliament has an opportunity to consider whether we should opt in and engage. It means at the end of the day we would be a party to whatever instrument is accepted. The other side of the coin is that if we do not opt in at the early stage then once an instrument has been finalised we can opt in and there will be some element of discussion we can still be a party to in the development of the instrument, but we would not really be in a position to formally propose amendments to it or to have the full engagement that would be desirable. In the civil law area we are in a position no different to most other member states and there is no detriment to our being engaged. I maintain the balance of advantage is in being engaged in that we make our contribution and we consider the appropriate amendments that might be made. Our intervention may produce a compromise proposal which could be of assistance to other states.

It is one of these strange technical proposals. Clearly, there is need to consider the approach in the context of minor issues. If we are discussing form changing or a new member state joining and becoming a party to an instrument, there is a somewhat over-elaborate structure applied at the moment. It is not efficient and it is time-consuming. An element of what the Commission is proposing makes sense.