European Union (Amendment) Bill

The right hon. Gentleman laboured the point about regulation. I shall give him a book that I have read called ““The Mad Officials””. I kept it because it is worth referring to again and again. It was written in the 1990s by a former senior UK civil servant who pointed out that the regulation madness was actually driven by the UK civil service, because it gold-plated everything that came from Europe. That practice made the regulation weigh much more heavily on our firms and on our legal procedures than it did in other parts of Europe. I have seen that effect at first hand in respect of a big petrochemical refinery and petrochemical plant in my constituency. It was formerly a BP plant, but it is now owned by Ineos. The regulations on the gases coming out of its flares are four times stricter than they were in the European directive, because our Departments decided to quadruple the severity of their application. That happens again and again, and it is not necessarily the fault of the EU, but of the way its regulations are added to the law in this country. We will be protected from some things if the Commission has sole competence, and some of them have already been mentioned. The new phrase going around Europe is ““economic patriotism””, but it is protectionism. We introduced liberalisation of domestic energy, but that means that the power needed to switch the lights on in this august place, in No. 10 and in the rest of the Seeboard Energy area comes from EDF. But the French had to be threatened with infraction by the Commission before they would liberalise their markets, and that was after the last day of the last month in the directive to which they had signed up. That is why the Commission needs the power. We should not let countries have shared competence, because they will use economic patriotism and obstruction to block the free market that we argue about every time I go to COSAC. I will go to Brussels during the recess to argue about energy production and distribution unbundling under the Lisbon agenda. Resistance is now building to the domestic patriotism excuse, but it can be broken down only by giving power to the Commission and not allowing Governments to block it. Our Government will not try to block it very often, but all over Europe other countries will form alliances to try to block the very liberalisation and free market that Conservative Front Benchers say that they want. They can only get it if they give up the power for this country to block changes, so that other countries cannot block changes. The postal services directive should be due to be introduced in 2009 throughout Europe, but we introduced it a little early in 2006. That has caused us all problems in our constituencies, but it will not lead to the collapse of the Post Office, as was suggested in the general debate by the hon. Member for Carmarthen, East and Dinefwr (Adam Price). There will be a postal service in the UK, but it should have been able to enter a wider market, using its new slimmed down abilities to win work, in 2009. The general agreement might not come in until 2011, and some countries will not implement it until 2013. That is what happens if the Commission does not have the power to force through the market that we want to work in, as well as live in. In the international sphere, the Commission will be responsible for driving forward commercial agreements with the Council, in unanimity. There has been much talk about how the EU has slowed up the benefits for other countries, but the World Trade Organisation is driving the liberalised market internationally. It is the WTO that has been threatening other countries' ability to benefit, but the EU has, for example, been defending the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries by giving them time to move out of their lock-in on certain products. Even at a later stage, they need only be 80 per cent. of the way to a completely liberal market, and that will give them some leeway. The European Union and the Commission are doing a good job in that respect. It is important to talk about what the treaty is about and why the amendments tabled by the Liberal Democrats and by the Conservatives are inappropriate and unnecessary. I have been going to conferences in Europe for some time now and I have been on the European Scrutiny Committee for nine years, with one year as the Chairman. I have regularly attended meetings, often with officials, to see how matters are developing. For all that other Members say that they wish to challenge what happens or how they are interested in the strategy, I am often alone in attending those conferences. There are no other volunteers from this Parliament to go. I know that the one I am going to in a few days is during the recess, and people will be off having a holiday somewhere. It may demonstrate that I am sad, but people do not even want to go when Parliament is sitting. If they did, they could argue their case on the development of the market face to face, across the table with colleagues in the European Union. I commend the Chairman of the Treasury Committee who also often goes alone to argue the case for the UK in those forums. I turn now to amendment No. 237 and article 3 of the consolidated treaties, which is called article 2B in the amendment. I am not sure what it is that scares those on the Opposition Front Bench. Even when sole competence is given to the EU, it is quite clear that if we say that we do not want article 2B, which is about"““the establishment of the competition rules necessary for the functioning of the internal market””," that will be because of the sole competence. Article 2 specifically states:"““The Member States shall exercise their competence again to the extent that the Union has decided to cease exercising its competence.””" It also says that member states will be able to do things themselves to carry out the policies that the Commission lays down. It is as though the Opposition think that the Commission has a blank sheet and can write any law, which will then somehow be enforced. It is not a blank sheet. There are 27 columns that contain the parts of the Union: the 27 Prime Ministers, Chancellors and Foreign Secretaries. They write the script for the Commission, in the main, and the proposals are carried out on their behalf. The Commission can think up and propose ideas; it cannot carry them through without the Council or the European Parliament, if co-decision making applies. It is as though some organisation out there gives us instructions without our participation, which is nonsense. Article 26 of the consolidated treaties, on the internal market, states in paragraph 3:"““The Council, on a proposal from the Commission, shall determine the guidelines and conditions necessary to ensure balanced progress in all the sectors concerned.””" That is what happens in the creation of an internal market. The Council decides after a proposal from the Commission what should be put into the internal market rule. Let us consider article 22, under title II of the consolidated treaties, which is entitled, ““Free movement of goods””. It is important that we accept that it says clearly that there should be free movement of goods—and of people. Let me ensure that I make it clear, as I do not want to misquote these wonderful and important articles. Article 28 says that we will provide a customs union—a move that was criticised roundly by the hon. Member for Stone—and that there should be a free movement of goods in that union. How can anyone say that the EU is a failure, as the hon. Member for Stone did? It is clear that when the barriers to trade in the EU were brought down, many companies came to the UK so that they could trade in the EU. That was certainly the case in my constituency. At one time, Scotland was the source of more televisions and computers for Europe than any other country in the EU. Those were boom years for the Scottish economy, using the free movement of goods title.