§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in what other areas besides marine resources the EU is allocated exclusive competence on the draft EU constitution. [117726]
§ Mr. MacShaneThe latest draft of the EU constitutional treaty proposes in Article 12 of Part 1 that "the Union shall have exclusive competence to establish competition rules within the internal market, and in the following areas: monetary policy, for the member states which have adopted the euro; common commercial policy; customs union; the conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries policy."
In the amendments that the Government have submitted to the Convention, we have stressed that the competences exercise should largely clarify existing competences rather than extend Union competence. For this reason we have proposed that the competence to establish competition rules within the internal market be listed under Article 13 as an area of shared competence rather than in Article 12 as an area of exclusive competence.