European Union (Accessions) Bill

I would go further—I cite the idea that such countries should be fined, although countries that are not members of the eurozone do not suffer a fine. Look at the situation regarding Italy, for example. The stability and growth pact is such an enormous failure because it is simply unrealistic. It does not work, and the remedies that are applied to ensure that there can somehow be compliance with the rules impose further penalties on countries, which makes it even less likely that they can achieve their objectives. I differ from the view expressed by the hon. Gentleman about the importance of human rights legislation. Just before I came into the Chamber, I was taking evidence from a distinguished European lawyer about the charter of fundamental rights. It might be news to several hon. Members in the Chamber that the charter is alive and kicking. It did not go down with the constitution—I can say that unequivocally. Although it appeared to have done so, it did not in practice. The European Court of Justice itself is applying the criteria of the charter, so that will be of direct relevance to countries such as Bulgaria and Romania, especially given the problems to which the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs. Ellman) referred in her important remarks. For example, there is the problem of the Roma. The promotion of employment law, the right to work and a raft of social measures are part of the charter of fundamental rights. A communication from the European Commission has announced that all legislation initiated by the Commission—in other words all European legislation initiated—must henceforth be compliant with the charter of fundamental rights. As the Commission is able to do that due to its right of initiation under the existing treaties, nothing can stop the charter from being brought in piecemeal through every piece of legislation that is initiated. The communication will be debated in a European Standing Committee in January—thanks to myself and one or two other members of the European Scrutiny Committee—and much good may it do us. However, as the Minister knows only too well, there is no mechanism for ensuring that a vote in such Committees is effective against further orders passed by the House. The economies of Europe are failing within the framework of the European Union because of the mistakes that were made over the Maastricht criteria, the mistakes that were made with the working time directive and the mistakes that were made in a whole raft of social legislation. However, we find that the charter of fundamental rights will itself be brought into our legislation through section 2 of the European Communities Act 1972. It will be enforced by our courts and by the European Court of Justice. The Bulgarians and the Romanians will find that the problems with their economies, which have already been explained by the Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for Altrincham and Sale, West, will be exacerbated because measures such as the charter of fundamental rights will have an adverse impact on the way in which they are run. It is a Catch-22 situation. The problem is that the economies of Europe, whether that is the economy of Europe as a whole, or the economies of individual member states—and of Bulgaria and Romania in particular—are all in disarray, which is creating low growth and high unemployment. That was the root cause of the reason why the French and the Dutch rejected the constitution. People said, ““Oh, that was because the French didn’t like Chirac,”” but they did not like Chirac because the economy was not working, and the economy was not working because of these crazy rules, all of which are based on an ideology that does not work—it does not work for the developing world, either. Members of the European Scrutiny Committee had the pleasure of meeting a delegation of Members of Parliament from the Czech Republic the other day. By the way, they were not, with one exception, from the right of that country’s political spectrum. They were social democrats. I shall not mention their names because that would be unreasonable. They said that they had been enthusiastic about entry to the EU, probably, one must say, because they knew that they would get a lot of money out of it, as well as stability and improved relationships with other countries to address the vacuum in central and eastern Europe on matters of defence and foreign policy. However, they said that their enthusiasm was becoming significantly reduced. What they had anticipated is not what is happening. They criticised the regulation and interference of European legislation and said that before joining the EU, the Czech Republic had been self-sufficient in agricultural products, but owing to European regulations, it is now a net importer. The sugar beet market had been badly hit by the imposition of EU regulations, and unemployment is coming out of that. That is all because of crazy European rules, which are doing devastating damage to countries that have just come into the EU.