Treaty of Lisbon (No. 2)

I have apologised and I shall be careful about quoting former Prime Ministers in the future. We had good speeches from my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough (Sir Stuart Bell), the former Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, West (Ms Hewitt), the Chairman of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Peter Luff), my hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Mrs. Curtis-Thomas), the hon. Member for Esher and Walton (Mr. Taylor), and the hon. Member for Angus (Mr. Weir), and a kind of Eurosceptic vignette, if I may use that term in the House, from the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper). The hon. Member for Esher and Walton challenged me to speak positively about the Lisbon treaty. I do speak and think positively about it, and I do so in general terms. I sometimes think we miss the wood for the trees in such debates. My parents' generation witnessed all the horrors of a divided Europe in the second world war. My grandparents' generation witnessed all the horrors and the mass murders on both sides of the first world war. I am pleased to be part of a generation that is discussing, albeit occasionally dryly, important matters such as climate change and energy, and how we can make a contribution in Britain and in Europe. I am very positive about the new Europe and Britain's role in it, and about the Lisbon treaty. Let us remind ourselves of the energy mix across the EU. Oil accounts for some 38 per cent. of energy supplies, gas 24 per cent., coal and other solid fuels some 18 per cent., nuclear 14 per cent., and renewables 6 per cent. and rising. Within that overall picture, the mix varies considerably by country. We have heard about France, where perhaps 80 per cent. of electricity comes from nuclear, whereas in Austria none comes from nuclear. Most of Cyprus's energy comes from oil, most of Poland's from coal. That is why the member state has to take charge of the energy mix in its own national community. We have heard about the increasing importance of imports. In 2004 approximately 50 per cent. of EU energy was imported, but by 2030 the figure could be as high as 65 per cent. That signifies one of the challenges. We have an increasing reliance on imports in a world where energy prices are likely to remain relatively high and where fossil fuel reserves are concentrated in relatively few regions of the world, including the middle east and Russia. There is the urgent need to tackle climate change; EU countries share that objective not only with each other, but with the rest of the world. For those reasons, during the UK presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2005, we put forward a plan to create a common EU energy policy, including the establishment of a common European power grid, co-operation on gas storage, exchange of information about security of supply and a strengthening of climate change policies. I shall quote another Prime Minister, this time within the bounds of propriety. The then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said at the time:"““It is important that energy policy is something that we work on together as a European Union””." He was right. The House is well aware of our recent decision on nuclear power, our commitment to a major expansion of offshore wind power and the passage of Bills on energy planning and climate change. However, whatever action we take at home, it is surely obvious that we can achieve the most, in this interdependent and highly competitive world, when we act together with our international partners. Let us not pretend that it will all be easy. It would be naive to expect major players in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries or Russia to come to the negotiating table wearing kid gloves. The EU must be ready to speak, and speak strongly, with one voice on energy policy. That is not only in Europe's interest, but in Britain's best interest. We need the enlarged EU of 27 countries to be able to work effectively and efficiently to draw a line under debates about institutional reform and move on to dealing with the great issues of the day, including energy. The treaty of Lisbon will make that possible, and we should welcome it. I move on to the issue of oil stocks, which involve an important obligation. We are obliged to hold stocks of oil in case of severe disruption of oil supplies. That mirrors our international obligations under the International Energy Agency, of which the US, Canada, Japan and Australia are also members. The Nice treaty changed the voting on any directive concluded under that article from unanimous to qualified majority voting. It is important to emphasise that the Lisbon treaty makes no change to that. On the obligations to release stocks in case of severe disruption to supply, I should say that the last time that that was required was during hurricane Katrina, when the UK rightly led, under our chairmanship of the IEA governing board, in helping our friends in the United States. That was done under consensus. A number of fearful hares have run on this, so I emphasise that we have never taken action through the EU on that issue. On both times when it has been necessary, action was taken through the IEA.