European Union (Amendment) Bill

I support my noble friend’s amendment and speak to Amendment No. 125 in my name, which is in the same group. Like other noble Lords, I should very much like to get down to the substance of these treaties but it is difficult when the Government continue to deny in effect the substance of what we are supposed to be debating—the consolidated text, or the end result of it. This is not a historical textbook; it is not even a novel by Trollope. It is a substantive document that sets out the basis on which the EU will be run and governed over the coming years. It is very difficult for a common-sense reader not to conclude that it is a constitution for the European Union. There is an executive answerable to the European Parliament, increasingly sharing powers with the Parliament rather than answerable to the nation states, as was originally intended. The treaty declares for the first time that the European Parliament creates democratic legitimacy for the European Union as a sovereign entity in its own right, with increasing powers for that Parliament. It has a powerful president, who will shape the agenda of the Union, and its own court, which is not answerable to any other court but is the highest court in the territory in which it operates. It gives the European Union a legal identity and the power to enter into international agreements. The nation states, which used to be in charge of this thing, are now relegated to the status of members of a senate, in which they have majority voting to decide what they do or do not agree with, and can be taken to court under a number of provisions of this treaty if they do not do as the European court has ordained it that as nation states they should do. Any common-sense description of this treaty would say that it was a description of a sovereign entity called the European Union, and that this was its constitution. Noble Lords do not have to take my word for it, because the Government published exactly the same text two or three years ago with the label ““EU constitution”” on the front of it. Yes, the articles have been put in a different order—but at Second Reading I made the point to the Minister that I could find only two articles in the constitutional text that were not reproduced in whole or in part in the Lisbon consolidated text. The Minister did not reply at that stage and the Government have studiously avoided giving us that comparison. If they seriously want to make the argument that this document is different from the constitution, I challenge the Minister to set out which articles she thinks are in this text that were not in the constitution and which articles were not in the constitution that are not in this text. I say that there are two—and I should like to hear her contradict that, if she wants to take these arguments seriously. I move on to Amendment No. 125, which is related and refers to the provisions at the front of the constitution that set out the objectives. It is not uncommon for constitutional documents to set out the objectives under which the rest of the constitutional clauses fall. These have particular significance; they are in Article 3 of the consolidated text. The House of Lords report on the impact of the treaty, to which we have referred, notes that the objectives are not just there for window dressing and are not just nice narratives, but that they are, "““likely to have some effect on the way in which other provisions of the Treaties are interpreted, not only by the European Court of Justice but also by the other institutions when undertaking their tasks””." So the initial objectives of the constitution have a real significance for us. The Lisbon treaty adds new objectives, which this House needs to take note of, because they may in many ways cut across objectives that UK Governments may wish to deploy. In particular, the treaty introduces the objective in Europe of creating a social market economy, aiming at full employment and promoting social justice and protection. We all know that those words are code words; they have a political meaning and are not just nice objectives. They will be interpreted by European Governments and the European court to imply a particular kind of social market policy—a protectionist, high cost and, as it turns out, uncompetitive market. It is a particular view with which many of us in this country disagree. When those objectives are put alongside the Charter of Fundamental Rights, there is real concern that it creates scope for rulings by the European court that directly impact on the UK’s freedom of action, and, in particular, on the Labour market. The House of Lords report I referred to earlier also notes that these objectives may be taken as justifying the extension of European Union competencies under what was the old Article 308 and is now Article 352. In other words, the fact that these objectives are set out there will allow the European Union to extend its powers under its constitution in new areas. These are political objectives and have no place in a constitution. The consequence is that a future Government could sign up to things as a result of them, which would bind their successors to a particular political format of Europe that may not be the political philosophy that they wish to pursue. In that way, the constitution may end up constraining the freedom of action of a future UK Government. My amendment seeks to bank the Government’s assurance that future governments will not be bound in that way. I am sure that the Government will ensure that this is not a constitution and that the use of these objectives to constrain the UK law will not be possible. I wish to bank that assurance by my amendment which makes clear that the UK laws cannot be constrained by the wording of these objectives. I ask the Minister to confirm—since I am sure that she will want to make those assurances—that she is perfectly happy to accept my amendment that puts that provision in the Bill.