The Scottish Parliament’s European and External Relations Committee has called on both the Executive and the Parliament to play a greater role in the development of European legislation.

An inquiry led by Jim Wallace MSP found that nations like Denmark and Ireland, and the Westminster parliament, have a higher level of scrutiny of and engagement with European legislation than Holyrood.

The inquiry resulted from allegations of ‘gold plating’ of European legislation at Westminster, and ‘tartan plating’ at the Scottish Executive, leading to claims from some industry sectors that European legislation was being more rigorously enforced in Britain than in other EU members.

Wallace said: “The European legislative process remains distant and largely obscure to many. We must examine more fully the detail of proposed legislation as it is being formed in Brussels and ensure that specific Scottish interests are taken into account. Greater transparency is central to this.

“Given the sheer volume of legislation which emerges from Brussels this lower level of scrutiny is perhaps unsurprising. Nevertheless, it is clear that we can do better, especially in relation to influencing the development of European legislation which relates to Scotland and I am pleased that the Committee has been so willing to continue to develop its scrutiny role in this area.”

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