Asked by: Lord Redwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which EU (a) legislative and (b) other proposals his Department is leading negotiations on for the Government in the Council of the EU.
Answered by David Lidington
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office leads on cross-cutting EU issues, including EU competence, supported by other government departments as appropriate. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office submits Explanatory Memoranda to Parliament on documents where we are the lead department. These can be found here: http://europeanmemoranda.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/.
The European Commission makes new proposals based on the Strategic Agenda set out by Heads of Government in the European Council. The annual Commission Work Programme sets out the priorities of the Commission for the coming year. Below are links to the current Commission Work Programme (CWP) for 2016, as well as 2014 and 2015.
https://ec.europa.eu/priorities/work-programme-2016_en
http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/pdf/cwp_2015_new_initiatives_en.pdf;
http://ec.europa.eu/atwork/pdf/forward_programming_2014.pdf;
Decisions on the timing of proposals for EU Laws and Directives are solely the responsibility of the European Commission. Details of current legislation under negotiation can be found at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/home/home.do?lang=en.