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Lord Grenfell: My Lords, as chairman of your Lordships' European Union Committee, I shall speak mainly, but not exclusively, in that capacity. Where I have some personal observations to make, I shall indicate that I am taking off my chairman's hat. In fact, for a moment, I shall do so right away.
For those of us involved on a day-to-day basis with European Union affairs, one can say that we live in extremely interesting times. I found it quite extraordinary that some government and Commission leaders would have us believe that after two "No" votes it was still business as usual—that things were going to continue as they were. It recalled to my mind one of the less kind remarks that Winston Churchill made about Stanley Baldwin when he said that he was a man who occasionally stumbled on the truth but would immediately pick himself up and hurry on as if nothing had happened.
Yesterday the House—I now put back on my chairman's hat—heard a Statement on the European Council. I was rather amused by the suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, that the idea of linking the United Kingdom abatement with the reform of the CAP in the Council was not embraced until our commissioner in Brussels telephoned the Prime Minister to suggest it. Perhaps our commissioner in Brussels had read the excellent report of the sub-committee of the noble Lord, Lord Radice—I am delighted to see him in his place—on the Future Financing of the European Union, which was published as long ago as early March. Among its conclusions, it states:
"We also think that, so long as the predominant weight of the CAP in the budget continues, the United Kingdom abatement is justified. Only when the CAP has been further reformed would it be sensible to consider a Generalised Corrective Mechanism.
We believe the Government's insistence on the rebate is entirely legitimate in the context of an inadequately reformed CAP. We urge the Government to persuade other Member States of the logic of this position".
Well, maybe the Prime Minister read that report too. Anyway, that is what we said. I do not think that we were the first ever to say it, but you certainly heard that in this Chamber from the noble Lord, Lord Radice, well before you heard it from Downing Street.
Perhaps I may take off my hat once again. I must do so because I have to assure members of my committee that I am not implicating them in some of my remarks,
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although I think that on this point they probably would agree with me. I just have not had a chance to check with them. I want to express my profound concern that, among the apparent consequences of the French and Dutch "No" votes and the row over the budget, there is the possibility of a slowing down, if not a total blocking, of the enlargement process. An enormous amount of time and effort has been expended by accession countries to meet the myriad requirements of membership, and they have done it very well. Why should their expectations now be undermined because of some clear failures of leadership among some important existing members of the European Union?
As has already been noted, successive British governments have been enthusiastic champions of enlargement, not least this government. I urge the Government not to let the momentum of enlargement die. Nothing less than the future security of Europe could be at stake. So I was quite comforted by what the Lord President had to say on the matter a little while ago.
Yesterday was quite a European day in your Lordships' House as we also debated, on a Motion of the noble Lord, Lord Wright of Richmond, a key aspect of European Union policy; namely, The Hague programme and other justice and home affairs matters. I want to take the opportunity—I could not yesterday because I was sitting on the Woolsack—to thank the noble Lord, Lord Wright, the noble Baroness, Lady Harris of Richmond, and the noble and learned Lord, Lord Scott of Foscote, all of whom chaired inquiries that formed the basis of the debate and all of whom spoke so eloquently in it.
There is no need for me to reiterate the work that the European Union Select Committee will be undertaking during the presidency since I did that at some length when I spoke during the debate on the humble Address. Suffice it to say that all seven sub-committees, on which more than 70 of your Lordships work so hard, will be engaged throughout the presidency in holding the Government to account on important issues of policy that affect the lives of all citizens.
Since the Lord President referred to deregulation, I should remind your Lordships that our Select Committee is currently engaged in an extensive inquiry into how we can achieve better and less regulation. That report will be published before the Summer Recess.
The presidency places specific obligations on the host Parliament. We will, jointly with the Commons, be hosting the COSAC meeting of the European committees of the national Parliaments, where these committees focus on exchanging best practice on holding governments to account. Secondly, there will be held here, jointly organised by the Lords and the Commons, a series of other subject based inter-parliamentary meetings within the framework agreed by the Conference of Speakers. In your Lordships' House the responsibility for those meetings also falls on our EU committees because of the focus of the events.
With the beginning of the presidency only 10 days away, we, as members of the legislature, must recognise that whatever decisions may be taken about
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the constitution—or perhaps I may say "treaty" because I share the dislike of the noble Lord, Lord Howell, of the word constitution—the treaty, the budget or any of the other high-profile policy issues confronting the presidency, the ordinary day-to-day scrutiny work of EU business must go on, both here and in the other national parliaments.
That work serves a vital constitutional purpose, being this House's chosen mechanism to substitute for the detailed discussion of EU legislative texts on the Floor of the House. But it is more than just that. This work is also a contribution to the transparency in EU matters that all sides of the House, I am sure, wish to see strengthened.
Our House does not go so far as the Danish Parliament in having a dedicated team of staff to answer questions from the public about the impact of EU legislation on their daily lives. But I suggest that we need some mechanism or process of that sort. We might do well to look at Ireland's permanent National Forum on Europe, which is also admiringly described as a kind of travelling circus that pitches up in cities and towns across Ireland with a cast of MPs, MEPs, EU officials and academics to listen to the public and answer their questions on what EU legislation is all about and what its impact is or is likely to be.
For the moment, however, it is the results of your Lordships' hard work in scrutinising, analysing and reporting on EU legislation, all of which work is freely available to the public on the website, that forms this contribution to transparent debate. Here, I pay tribute to the work done by the noble Lord, Lord Puttnam, and his commissioners, including the noble Lord, Lord Renton of Mount Harry, one of our sub-committee chairs, who have recommended improvements to the website that I know chime very well with initiatives already under way by officials of the House.
What has befallen the treaty has among its direct consequences one of particular importance to our Parliament. I refer to the treaty's proposed mechanism for early warning on subsidiarity. For those unfamiliar with what was proposed, the idea was that if one-third of the chambers of national parliaments objected to a legislative proposal on the grounds of subsidiarity, the Commission or other body initiating the legislation would be obliged to think again.
Our Select Committee thoroughly examined that so-called "yellow card" mechanism and determined that it was an important proposal with much to commend it. We also concluded—I quote from paragraph 25 of the report—that,
"even if the Constitutional Treaty does not enter into force, the provisions relating to national parliaments and to subsidiarity can and should provide a stimulus to greater and more effective scrutiny by all national parliaments in the EU".
The European Council has concluded that a period of reflection is needed. That is eminently sensible. But reflection should not mean inactivity. Treaty or no treaty, national parliaments have a duty continually to strengthen and improve their scrutiny of the European Union and their effectiveness in holding Ministers to account. If proposals in the treaty will assist this, and if their implementation does not require treaty change,
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we should press on. In my view, the subsidiarity yellow card mechanism falls clearly into that category and national parliaments should continue to work to set the system up. The House might see the practicality of entrusting the operation of the mechanism in this House to the EU Select Committee as a logical extension of its scrutiny work.
I note that the Government have stated that they would welcome national parliaments entering into effective collaboration envisaged by the treaty, whether or not it ever comes into force. Although my committee's report has not received a government response, I hope that the Lord President will today be able to give a steer that such a course would be welcome.
There are some caveats to that. First, without the constitutional treaty, the yellow card provisions cannot be binding on anyone. Yet I believe that it would be clearly in line with the stated determination of the Commission and, in particular, of Commissioner Wallström, who is in charge of relations with national parliaments, to secure greater engagement with the citizens, for such a mechanism to be in place and for the Commission to co-operate fully with it. Should a formal mechanism other than a treaty change be needed, an inter-institutional agreement might do the trick. But the key would be for the Commission to state clearly that if one-third of national parliamentary chambers objected to a legislative proposal on subsidiarity grounds, it would reconsider it and, on the basis of both qualitative and quantitative analysis, give detailed reasons for proceeding with it or not.
Secondly, information will need to be made available to national parliaments. Under the protocol on national parliaments appended to the Treaty of Amsterdam, provision is made for that, and our Government does a very good job in discharging their responsibilities. But the constitutional treaty went further, requiring the Commission also to send its papers direct to national parliaments. However, there is no need for a treaty base to require that. Again, in the spirit of openness and transparency, the Commission could and should just do it.
For all those reasons, in the spirit of what the treaty had to say about enhancing the role of national parliaments, those parliaments should continue the work already begun on strengthening parliamentary scrutiny of the EU and of their governments' roles in making European Union legislation. This House should play a leading role in that.
5.4 pm
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