EU: UK Membership

My Lords, I certainly agree with the conclusions of the noble Lord, Lord Hannay. I would take a view about some of his earlier assessment of the preparations of the European Union to deal with the coming external challenges, but I would see things rather more as a glass half full than as a glass half empty. There is a potential within the European Union, which we have seen develop in recent years and to which I would like to return. I begin by congratulating my noble friend Lord McNally on having given us the opportunity to have a debate in advance of the European Council. It is a pity we do not have one normally in advance of a European Council, as the House of Commons does, particularly given the quality of the knowledge of the subject that we have in this House, as other noble Lords have said. It is a privilege to be able to debate Britain’s relations with the European Union with so many of those who have played a leading part in it over the past 40 years. I know that my noble friend Lord Thomson of Monifieth, who had originally intended to speak in this debate, is particularly sorry that he cannot do so because of ill health. Next week is certainly critical for the European Union and for Britain’s relationships. Throughout the 36 years in which I have spoken on Europe in Parliament, I have always made it clear that my reasons for wanting to see the development of the European Union was as an instrumentalist not an institutionalist. I support the European Union and British membership of it because it enables us to achieve our political and national objectives more effectively in a larger structure rather than because there is some sort of particular federal or confederal machinery. I also believe in the principle, which I think was put forward by Jean Monnet, of making institutional development in small forward movements rather than leaps. I hesitate to make the following point, speaking as I do between my noble friend Lord Maclennan and the noble Lord, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, but I think that in retrospect the convention and, perhaps, the treaty were perhaps somewhat over-ambitious. There were two things necessary to be done post-Nice. It was necessary to deal with the question of weighted voting, on which a fudge had been produced at Nice. It was necessary, too, to deal with the size of the Commission. Those are two of the most difficult matters in the European Union because of the divisions that the different interests create between the larger and smaller member states, rather than between faster and slower Europeans. I sometimes wonder, perhaps a little cynically, whether the size of the constitutional treaty was not to ensure that those difficult issues were not so obvious in the large mass of that text. I very much hope that agreement can be reached on these issues next week in Berlin, in spite of the noises that we have heard coming from Warsaw. On the size of the Commission, the possibility of senior and junior commissioners might be a solution to be explored. There is one other thing that has not been referred to today but which I believe was a rather useful aspect of the draft constitutional treaty, which gives it an important flexibility—the way in which the passerelle or bridging concept was developed in the treaty. It took what had always existed—that there had to be unanimity among the member states—but added a very important parliamentary red card. If one Parliament were to object—apparently in this country the House of Commons—within six months of the passerelle motion having been passed, it would fall. That is a rather important parliamentary development. I accept the use of a red card there although I do not accept it in relation to the proposals mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Harrison. I was interested to hear from the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, that at the meeting which he and the noble Lord, Lord Maclennan, attended this week in Brussels not a single Parliament supported this idea, which was put forward by the Netherlands Government and, to some extent, I gather, supported by our own Government. This red card system for the normal process is a mistake. The yellow card arrangement, which was sorted out within the convention and the constitution, should be carried forward. I enjoyed the 1975 referendum but have not become an addict. I did not believe that a referendum was necessary in the case of the constitutional treaty, and made my views on that subject known to the Government at the time. In spite of its name, that treaty was not significantly more substantial in its effect than many of the earlier amending treaties. I certainly see no case for a referendum on the treaty that is likely to emerge from next year’s negotiations and the subsequent IGC. I accept, of course, that some may wish to see what emerges before coming to a final view on a referendum. But in view of all that we have heard in this debate and in the current debate, it seems to me very unlikely. I can see no situation in which I would be prepared to vote for one. There is an important paradox that while all the achievements which the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, pointed out have occurred in the past few months, the referendum decisions in France and the Netherlands have led to a malaise within the European Union. Further referenda, which could also result in defeats, could lead to further malaises. I would not call that a crisis in view of the considerable achievements, but at the same time as this malaise has occurred in the European Union—I say that despite the comments of my noble friend Lady Williams and the noble Lord, Lord Hannay—over the past two or three years it has been relatively successful in the development of its foreign and defence policies. Its High Representative, Javier Solana, has played an increasing role in the quartet. I refer to the agreement which the European Union reached this week with the Ministry of Finance in the Palestinian Authority in order once again to start building up its institutions. The European Union proposed a mechanism and then persuaded the rest of the quartet to accept it so that finance could continue to be provided to the Palestinian Authority. A certain amount has been achieved. I refer to the large number of members of the European Union which were prepared to provide forces in the Lebanon last year. During its first 50 years the European Union concentrated on its internal policies. As we have heard, the challenges now lie outside the European Union in a variety of domains. We are responding to the situation in the Middle East and, to some extent, that in Africa. The European Union is largely paying for the African Union mission in Darfur. It was able to deploy at short notice into Aceh, Indonesia when a conflict needed to be dealt with. I could go on but I do not have time. The new challenges to our society posed by problems with the global environment, energy security and international terrorism all call for a collective European response. They are providing the new case for Europe and in many cases the response is already beginning, even if it is not adequate. If anything, Europe is becoming overwhelmed by requests from international organisations to provide forces for activities, possibly in Gaza and perhaps, at some stage, in Syria after a withdrawal. The European Union is responding to those issues. In my closing words I should draw your Lordships’ attention to the interesting fact that this week the European Union is having its second military exercise, commanded by a British general, Lieutenant-General David Leakey, using its own autonomous operational headquarters for the first time. A few years ago that suggestion would have resulted in terrible trouble, but I am glad to say that the Secretary-General of NATO himself said last week that he thought that the European Union operations centre was a good idea and that he had nothing against it. The European Union is beginning to build the equipment which will enable it to face these international challenges, which I believe will be its primary justification. Let us hope that at spaghetti junction, or wherever it is that my noble friend said the meeting would take place next week, agreement is reached on a relatively simple number of changes which can be made, then taken forward and ratified in all member states, except perhaps Ireland, without referenda.