| Speeches |
On 4th June during the debate on the IGC, before the negotiations began, I made four major recommendations to Her Majesty's Government as to what they should do at Amsterdam. First, I believed that they should negotiate a major reform of the CAP. I believed that they should try to obtain the abandonment of the common fisheries policy and return fishing waters to our old jurisdiction. I also advised that they should cut the European Commission down to size and should not extend further powers to the European Parliament. I am sad that they adopted none of those particular policies and, indeed, even more sad that they did exactly the reverse.
My noble friend Lord Barnett, who is not in the Chamber at the moment, referred to my nodding in support of the notion of blowing Europe out of the water. I can assure him that I was not doing anything of the kind. It is not my policy, nor anybody else's policy, to blow Europe out of the water. I was welcoming his support for the position on economic and monetary union that I and others, especially my noble friend Lord Bruce of Donington, have taken since the Maastricht Treaty. Indeed, we tried to amend the Maastricht Treaty to take into account the points of view that he supported.
But I must criticise the manner in which vital questions are decided at intergovernmental conferences. Great matters which affect our way of life, our laws, our institutions and our Parliament are decided--final decisions--apparently in a couple of days, at breakneck speed, with heads of government having to run from one meeting to another to keep up with events. I do not believe that that is a sensible way to conduct our affairs. Often, decisions are made in the early hours of the morning, when many, if not all, of the participants,.have had a good dinner and perhaps imbibed a skinful of alcohol. The whole business is thoroughly undemocratic. There is no involvement by the people whose lives are affected by those decisions. The phrase "a people's Europe" is, in fact, a hollow mockery. A top European people's Europe is the reality.
I should like to ask my noble friend who will wind up the debate whether the treaty will be ready for signing in October. There seems to be some doubt as to whether all the problems of that hurried treaty will be ironed out by October. I hope that my noble friend will be able to give me a reply to that important question. I also ask him to tell us when the treaty is likely to come before Parliament for ratification. Will all the treaty revisions be subject to agreement or amendment by Parliament? Those questions are important. I hope that my noble friend will be able to answer them.
Turning to border controls, the Government claimed a great victory over that negotiation. Can my noble friend say exactly what is the position? Are we to keep control of our borders indefinitely--I repeat, indefinitely? The noble Baroness, Lady Thatcher, when she was Prime Minister in 1985, thought that she had settled that matter for all time. Clearly, in the light of experience, she had not settled it for all time. I should like my noble friend to tell me the difference between what Lady Thatcher, when she was Prime Minister, thought she had obtained and what the Government have now obtained or think they have obtained.
The new protocol entrenches subsidiarity in the new treaty. That might sound all right, except that some of us do not accept the principle of subsidiarity because it means that one is subsidiary. But does not it also entrench the acquis communautaire? And does not that mean that powers once ceded to the European Union cannot be regained by the individual member nations? Again, I hope that my noble friend will reassure me that that is not the case.
I turn to foreign and security policy. There has clearly been some movement toward the European Union having a greater role in foreign policy and indeed in defence. In my view, that is a further turn of the ratchet of further integration. The Commission is determined to play a greater role in foreign relations. There is a new emphasis on--to use the European terminology--"consistence of external relations as a whole". That, in plain English, means a common foreign policy. The Secretary General of the Council of Ministers apparently becomes the "High Representative of the Common Foreign and Security Policy". My God! Gilbert would have had great fun with that particular title. In other words, he will become a foreign secretary general.
How can all that be reconciled with the principle that British foreign policy exists only to further the British interest? The British interest under this system will become subsidiary to the whole interest of the European Union. Again, I should like my noble friend--if he can and if he has time--to comment on that.
On defence, reference is made to the progressive framing of a common defence policy and to closer relations with the Western European Union, with possible integration of the WEU into the European Union. Those moves will delight the federalists, who seem to prosper whatever the political colour of the British Government.
Can my noble friend also tell me what happened over the common fisheries policy, which has not been mentioned so far this afternoon--or perhaps I missed any reference to it. That issue is important. Perhaps I may quote from the Fishermen's Association Limited, which is an important body. With regard to the treaty, it headlines its comments:
It goes on to say:
That is a serious matter for the fishing industry. Again, I should like my noble friend to tell me exactly what was achieved and what will be different after the IGC from what obtained before the IGC. This House is entitled to have an answer to that.
We have already heard that qualified majority voting has been extended to 16 new areas. Although those areas are said at present to be only minor extensions, past experience tells us that, in fact, it means further incursions into what Douglas Hurd described as the "nooks and crannies of national life". Perhaps we could have some further clarification as to exactly what that extension of QMV will mean.
Finally, there is the European Parliament. As the noble Lord, Lord Tordoff, pointed out, the powers of the European Parliament have been considerably strengthened. Co-decision has now been extended to all measures other than those articles relating to European Monetary Union. That extends co-decision to another 23 areas. There is also the power, which neither this Parliament nor any other national parliament has, to veto the appointment of future presidents of the Commission. That is a considerable power, let us make no mistake about it. So, we shall find that the European Parliament will be able to over-rule a nominee of the British Government and the British Parliament will have no say over that matter at all.
Again, as the noble Lord, Lord Tordoff, pointed out, as the powers of the European Parliament grow, so the powers of Westminster will be diminished. That process will be exacerbated by devolution. Of course, we all now know--because the Prime Minister told us--that the European Parliament is to be elected by PR in 1999, with no consultation with either House of Parliament as far as I am aware, although there has been consultation with his new-found coalition partners, Mr. Ashdown and the Liberal Democrats. Presumably PR for the European Parliament will have to be agreed by both Houses of Parliament. Since that, as far as I can find out, was not a specific manifesto commitment, presumably the House of Lords will not be threatened with imminent destruction or emasculation if it wants to do something about it.
I fear I cannot welcome the new treaty. It may be a small ratchet; it may be a bigger ratchet than we think. Nevertheless, it is a further ratchet towards further integration within Europe and a further step to what the Germans so often like to describe as a country called Europe.
| Speeches |