European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, it is always a delight to follow by noble friend Lord Harrison, partly because of his direct personal experience of the European Parliament, but more importantly because of his graphic turn of phrase. Looking at the speakers' list I see that the noble Lord, Lord Willoughby de Broke, that well-known Eurosceptic taxidermist, speaks after me, although I doubt that he will follow me. Let us wait and see. We are reaching the stage in the debate when Members of your Lordships’ House tend to start their speeches by observing that much of what they wanted to say has already been said. However, that never inhibits them from ploughing on and saying exactly what they were going to say in the first place. I want to avoid that trap and focus on a relatively narrow, but important, issue of how the treaty affects agriculture and whether the treaty makes reform of agriculture more or less likely. I make no apology for doing that. After all, the common agriculture policy was one of the founding policies. Although agricultural expenditure is set to decline as a proportion of the overall budget, it will remain the largest single element within the budget. I also have the privilege of chairing Sub-Committee D of the Select Committee of the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, which is specifically charged with looking at agriculture, fisheries and the environment; the most distinguished member of that sub-committee, the noble Lord, Lord Plumb, is due to speak later. The present way of dealing with agriculture through the Brussels institutions is, frankly, less than satisfactory. Currently, decision-making lies wholly with the Council, where agriculture Ministers act as members of something akin to a closed, cosy club with little accountability. Members of your Lordships’ House will not be too surprised to know that the vast majority of European agriculture Ministers see their primary task as securing bigger and better incomes for their farmers. Pursuing reform, getting agriculture closer to the market and looking after the interests of consumers come somewhat lower down the list of priorities, if they figure at all. At the level of the European Parliament, things are even worse. At present, the European Parliament is merely consulted on agricultural policy, and the effect of that has been twofold. First, the agricultural committee of the Parliament does not enjoy a high level of prestige or esteem within the Parliament itself. It has been effectively captured by producer interests and pretty much ignored by the Council. On agricultural expenditure, the current classification of agricultural spend as compulsory expenditure means that the Parliament only has an advisory role, so there is little oversight and scrutiny of agricultural policy within the European institutions. Everything is centred on the cosy club of the Council. What will the treaty do? It makes two important changes. First, agriculture will be subject to co-decision. The cosy monopoly of the Council will be broken; it will disappear. Secondly, on expenditure, the abolition of the distinction between compulsory and non-compulsory expenditure will mean that the Parliament and the Council will have to come to a final agreement on the whole budget, including agricultural spend. Those are the proposals in the treaty. What are the likely effects? Again, the committee of the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, helps us with that. It says: "““The move to co-decision in agriculture and fisheries is significant. It will bring more transparency and accountability to the policy-making process, allowing third parties to raise concerns more easily with policy makers and facilitating national parliamentary scrutiny of agriculture and fisheries decision-making””." Furthermore, "““the weight of evidence suggests that agriculture and fisheries committees of the European Parliament will in future represent and be closely overseen by a wider range of interests than the narrow producer interests that have historically dominated those committees. For these reasons, we expect that the change is likely to assist rather than impede further reform of the common agricultural and fisheries policies””." I join with all those who say that both the common agricultural and common fisheries policies are in great and urgent need of further reform. Some progress has been made, but more needs to be done. I do not want to overstate the likely effects of the Lisbon changes in these two areas of policy but, overall, they are significant, helpful to the process of reform and ought to be supported. In the end they will be beneficial to efficient and effective farmers, who are closer to the market, and to the process of decision-making, with greater openness and accountability. They will be good for European citizens as a whole. For these reasons I support the treaty and commend it the House.