EU: UK Membership

My Lords, in listening to this debate, which I congratulate my noble friend Lord McNally on having introduced, I have been very struck by the extraordinary potential that exists in the British Parliament to make a much greater contribution to the development of Europe than we have made so far. When one reflects, for example, on the quiet genius of Lord Cockfield, who was probably the person who singly took the greatest share of responsibility for the introduction of the single European Act and the single market, with all that flowed from that—such as, incidentally, a greater extension of qualified majority voting than in any other treaty since the passage of the Rome treaty—one sees part of that potential. Listening to our former commissioners, such as the noble Lords, Lord Clinton-Davis and Lord Tugendhat, and others, and on listening to the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe, and others who took part in the building of the European Community, one hears again that immense potential. I have to ask myself why this tremendous resource has had so little effect recently on the development of Europe. There are two reasons for that. First, at a time when the introduction of the new Government in 1997 was applauded and cheered throughout Europe, some people may remember that marvellous picture of the young Prime Minister, Mr Blair, at the Amsterdam summit, bicycling into Europe as the new young leader, from whom so much was hoped and expected. One can see how far short the promise of that moment has fallen by the actuality of where we now are. I do not want to suggest that the Prime Minister has not played a considerable part in the development of Europe, because he has, or that the noble Lord, Lord Harrison, was wrong in pointing to some of those achievements. Nevertheless, too many of the Prime Minister’s ringing speeches have been made not in Britain but outside this country. Too often the Prime Minister and those around him have fallen back in the face of fear of what the press barons can do in this country. In my view, some of our press barons have a very great deal to answer for in having fostered and helped an almost totally prejudicial and distorted picture of our relation to Europe and what Europe has meant for us. I have always believed that the Government have a duty to bring about a broad campaign of information about what was happening in Europe and to challenge some of the ludicrous assertions made by a small group of intense Euro-sceptics who have done immense damage to the interests of Britain. I think that one still has to say that we have fallen badly short in these respects. As the noble Lords, Lord Clinton-Davis and Lord Williamson, so ringingly said—and I join in the applause for the major contribution to Europe made by the noble Lord, Lord Williamson—there has been an astonishing achievement by the European Union: namely, the introduction of the Copenhagen criteria, which lay down requirements of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Those requirements have all been met by the countries which have recently joined in the expansion into central and eastern Europe and, as the noble Lord, Lord Tugendhat, and others have pointed out, have affected the way in which Turkey and other potential candidate countries have dealt with their own difficult issues. It is an astonishing achievement. Looking back from 1997 to the present time, it is an achievement which so far out-stretches what has happened in the attempt by a higher power to establish democracy and the rule of law in Iraq and Afghanistan that one is simply amazed that we have not picked up a trumpet and declared the scale of what has happened and what has been done. Let me turn to where we now are. The two great challenges that face us are the huge issue of climate change and the question of the constitution, which will be addressed by my noble friends Lord Maclennan and Lady Miller. On climate change, about which my noble friend will speak, let us make no pretence: anything less than the united power of the European Union will have no impact to speak of on the way in which we develop how we are to cope with this challenge and threat. It is the European Union, with its weight in the World Trade Organisation, in discussions at the United Nations and elsewhere, which is likely to have an effect. Britain on her own would be at best a small-scale contributor from outside. Even if we take the issues of terrorism, organised crime and people trafficking, which deface our world at the present time, I have to question whether the tentative approach as regards opting out that characterises the British position on Schengen and the JHA programme is really the most effective way to deal with these huge threats. We are not matching up to the scale of what confronts us and soon we must have a serious and rational argument about where we stand on these issues and on the continuing opting out that follows from Schengen. Let me say a few words about the so-called constitution. I agree strongly that we do not need a new constitution but that we need an amending treaty. Noble Lords have already spoken about this and I believe that I share almost wholly the approach of the noble Lord, Lord Williamson of Horton. The changes that need to be made are relatively moderate and will enable us to decide within a Union of27 what needs to be decided. A marked element here is the disappointment many of us feel about the inadequate response of the European Union to some of the most difficult problems of foreign policy and defence in our world. I shall take as just one example that of the relatively low profile and in many ways very disappointing contribution made by the European Union as one of the members of the so-called Middle East quartet. It has to take responsibility in part for the terrible anarchy we now see spreading throughout the Middle East, not least in the recent horrific stories from Gaza and the West Bank. The European Union has poured money into the Palestinian Authority and into humanitarian aid, but it has failed to stand up and insist on its own policies as distinct from those of Russia and, even more, of the United States. I believe we could have made a much more constructive contribution had we been just a little more courageous about talking about some of the difficult things that need to be done in the Middle East, among them confronting the continued building of settlements and the completion of an absolutely illegal wall on the Israeli side, and the continuation of suicide bombings and rocket attacks on the Palestinian side. We have an opportunity which so far we have simply failed to take. In the constitutional amendments that I hope we will see, it is crucial now to anchor the enlargement of the European Union into the effectiveness of the Union, and that still remains to be done. This has been an impressive debate, and I say again that it shows the huge potential of this country to contribute much more to Europe than we have done so far. I say to the incoming Government of Mr Gordon Brown and his colleagues that they should reconsider whether Britain should remain grumbling on the sidelines. We have one of the worst attendance records for European Union ministerial meetings of any country in the Union, if not the worst. We cannot stay on the sidelines any longer; we must play a full part in the development of a European Union which could contribute far more than it has already to the peace, freedom and human rights of the world.