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Mr. Peter Shore (Bethnal Green and Stepney): The Foreign Secretary is on to an absolutely central point about the integrity of the nation state and a European partnership of nations. Does he not think that the most convincing evidence that the House and the Government could give of their commitment to a Europe of nation states rather than to a federal Europe would be to say now, and clearly, that we have no intention of allowing the transfer of economic powers to European institutions that would be involved in economic and monetary union and a single currency? If he could clarify that and give us that firm assurance, his others words would carry greater conviction.
Mr. Rifkind: I recognise the importance of the issue that the right hon. Gentleman has raised, and it is for precisely that reason that the United Kingdom and Denmark were the two countries that refused to accept even the principle of a single currency during the Maastricht negotiation. That is not the view of the other members of the European Union, but the United Kingdom took that position--a rather lonely position but one that demonstrated our determination to protect the United Kingdom's interests and to ensure that no step would be taken that was contrary to our national interests.
Mr. Llew Smith (Blaenau Gwent): In the White Paper, the Government argue that they are against the erosion of national Parliaments. If we should become part of monetary union, will the Minister indicate what economic powers would be left in this Parliament and what economic powers would be with the European central bank?
Mr. Rifkind: These will indeed be issues that will need to be addressed fully, but they will not be relevant to the IGC, so I hope that the hon. Gentleman will forgive me if I do not get tempted along that alleyway on this occasion.
The nation state remains as relevant as ever to today's Europe and to its peoples. In each country, citizens can best express their concerns through their national democratic institutions. The European Union supranational institutions cannot deliver the same level of democratic accountability.
President Mitterrand said, in his moving final speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg last year: "Nationalism is war." Chancellor Kohl echoed that fear,
saying that Europe has no desire to return to the nation state of old, and that nationalism has brought great suffering to our continent. Extreme nationalism and xenophobia are indeed poisons, but they will not be overcome by an internationalism that seeks to deny national consciousness, local differences and historical experience.
The German Chancellor is right to say that we do not want to return to the nationalism of the 1930s; but the nation states of western Europe have learnt the lessons of history. One of the great achievements of the European Union has been the replacement of the habit of conflict which dominated western Europe for centuries and which spawned two world wars in this century, with a habit of co-operation.
Every month, every week, every day, Europe's Ministers and officials are meeting, resolving differences, working together and building for the future. Any reversion to the habits of the past is literally inconceivable. That achievement has been entrenched by a reconciling of the unity of Europe with the diversity of its nations. To have striven for the former by ignoring the latter would have been fatal.
Mr. Hugh Dykes (Harrow, East):
I realise that the Foreign Secretary is trying to establish the delicate balance between those factors. The Maastricht treaty, however, specifically upholds national identities, so there is no built-in problem there.
Paragraph 6 of the White Paper states that the Government are
Must that not include our paying attention to the requirements and aspirations of the other member states in the negotiations--without weakening our position--and accepting that they want to create a genuine European Union?
Mr. Rifkind:
It certainly means that we must listen courteously to the views of others. It means that we must recognise that they are not enemies but partners, and that we must make a genuine and constructive effort to reach agreement.
My hon. Friend will acknowledge, however, that for each nation--not just the United Kingdom--there will be sticking points. There will be positions that are arrived at not simply out of a desire to be obstructive or out of bloody-mindedness, but because they reflect an honest perception of what the national interest of each country requires. When Britain--or, for that matter, any other country--identifies such a position, it is right and proper for it to be as firm as possible in ensuring that that position is respected.
Mr. Tony Banks (Newham, North-West):
Will the Foreign Secretary give way?
Mr. Nigel Spearing (Newham, South):
Will the Foreign Secretary give way?
Mr. Rifkind:
I hope that the hon. Gentlemen will forgive me if I do not. I want to make some progress.
Over the years to come, the European Union may develop in three possible ways. We want it to be a partnership of nation states, co-operating freely in pursuit of their overall collective interests and using the institutions of the Union only when that is clearly necessary.
A second way would lead towards a federal Europe. The pressure for a United States of Europe still exists. Although it is not the declared policy of any of the member states' Governments, it is clearly the aim ofthe European Parliament and the Commission, judging by the maximalist opinions that they have submitted to the intergovernmental conference.
A possible third way in which the European Union might evolve is a multi-track Europe, as referred to in my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's speech in Leiden two years ago. That could lead to a flexible Europe with different degrees of integration for different countries, which would be a different kind of partnership.
Mr. Bernard Jenkin (Colchester, North):
If we, as a nation state, do not wish to be included in what my right hon. and learned Friend describes as a federal Europe, must we not as a House ensure that we no longer go along with the process of legal integration, which is gradually denuding Parliament of competence and transferring it to the institutions of the European Community? Is it not true that the Maastricht treaty has done nothing to halt that process?
Mr. Rifkind:
I accept that certain changes may be required. I think that my hon. Friend is referring to the role of the European Court of Justice; I intend to deal with that later.
I was talking about the third possible way in which the European Union might evolve into neither a loose partnership of nations nor a federal Europe, but a Union that is more flexible and has multi-track characteristics. Those intent on a federal Union in Europe maintain that, if the European Union does not integrate more and more closely as it grows larger, it will inevitably dilute and will eventually collapse.
I understand that argument, which is sincerely advanced; but I reject it. It is true that, if the European Union is to fulfil its potential, there must be core disciplines and obligations. If nation states were free to erect barriers against each other, we could quickly slide back from the achievements of the single market. Europe, however, must allow and even encourage variety, especially as it enlarges. How is that paradox to be resolved?
Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover):
Not easily.
Mr. Rifkind:
As is often the case, the hon. Gentleman is correct.
The Prime Minister's speech at Leiden began by arguing for tolerance of diversity and for suspicion of conformity for its own sake. The European Union must develop with the instincts of free peoples. That implies acceptance that some may wish to integrate more closely or more quickly in certain matters. Their national interest may require it, even if that of others does not.
The Prime Minister suggested three conditions that needed to be fulfilled for that purpose. First, such flexibility must not undermine the core of disciplines and
obligations on which the single market depends. Secondly, no member state should be excluded from an area of policy in which it is qualified and it wishes to participate--policies must be open to all.
Thirdly, there should be no inner and outer circles--no two-tier Europe. As the Prime Minister put it at Leiden:
in which some member states lay claim to a privileged status. For 40 years, the European Union has worked to reduce divisions in Europe. No one wants such divisions to be reintroduced.
Mr. William Cash (Stafford):
Will my right hon. and learned Friend note that paragraph 12 of the Government's White Paper says:
"committed to the success of the European Union, and to playing a positive role in achieving that success."
"There is not, and there never should be, an exclusive hard core either of countries or of policies"
"If we were to press ideas which stand no chance of general acceptance, some others would seek to impose an integrationist agenda which would be equally unacceptable from our point of view"?
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