European Union (Accessions) Bill

Clause 1 enables us to implement the accession treaty in United Kingdom law, paving the way for United Kingdom ratification of the treaty later in the year and for Bulgaria and Romania to join the European Union. The clause should be recognisable to all who are familiar with past accession Bills. Subsection 1 specifies the accession treaty for Bulgaria and Romania as one of ““the Community Treaties”” covered by the European Communities Act 1972. In broad terms, the Act grants automatic effect to directly applicable treaty provisions, and otherwise allows designated Ministers to make regulations amending existing UK legislation to the extent that that may be necessary to implement the treaty. It is difficult to speak about this part of the Bill without repeating many points that were covered on Second Reading. I shall be brief, not least because there was a welcome cross-party consensus in the House then on the broad principles of accession. With this enlargement, we are continuing to lay the ghosts of the last century to rest. After the bitter divisions of the two world wars and the cold war we are building a more secure, stable and prosperous Europe, and it is a Europe of which Bulgaria and Romania deserve to be part. Both have made giant strides in their political and economic development. Let us not forget that it was only 15 years ago that Ceausescu was overthrown in Romania and communism collapsed in Bulgaria. Today both states meet the European Union’s criteria for membership, which is an enormous achievement. Their transformations are not yet complete, however, and as I stressed on Second Reading, accession in 2007 is not a fait accompli for either country.