European Union (Amendment) Bill

I was about to ask the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, a question, but I can now do it by explaining my opposition to Amendments Nos. 7, 87, 88 and 89. The noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, has added his name to this group of amendments and I am delighted to see him in his place. They are designed, in one way or another, to exclude the charter and the UK protocol from the Bill and from UK law. Eight years ago, I had the privilege of serving on Sub-Committee E of the Select Committee on the European Union, chaired by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope of Craighead, when we prepared our report on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Other members included the noble Viscount, Lord Bledisloe, my noble friend Lord Goodhart, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, and the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth. What is noteworthy for this debate is that another member of the committee was the excellent noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral. We had the benefit of a wide range of experience. Our report, published on 16 May 2000 as HL Paper 67, identified in paragraph 119 as one of the significant gaps needing to be filled, "““the absence of a catalogue of fundamental rights in the Treaties””." We described in paragraph 121 the charter as presenting, "““a major opportunity for giving more effective protection to the individual in relation to the activities of the institutions of the EU. Translating the principles described above into a reality which is readily recognisable to the peoples of Europe and meaningful in their daily lives is perhaps one of the greatest challenges which confronts those who have been given the task of preparing the Charter””." We noted in paragraph 126 that while, "““a declaratory Charter might help to clarify the obligations of the institutions of the EU, it would not confer direct and tangible benefits on individuals””." In paragraph 127, we observed that the line then being adopted by the Government ran, "““the risk of appearing to be extremely negative when it comes to the practical protection of the individual against the infringement of rights by the EU institutions””." We identified in paragraph 128, "““a significant gap, in that individuals in Europe are not fully protected against the misuse of power by EU institutions that breaches the ECHR. The individual’s ability to challenge a measure on fundamental rights grounds is more restricted where the measure is taken by an EU institution than it is where it has been taken by a national authority””." The adopted charter and the Lisbon treaty meet the very approach taken by the committee of which I and the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, were members. I find it difficult to understand the justification for supporting amendments of this kind. Paragraph 1 of the new Article 6 of the treaty addresses the charter, which was absent from the old Article 6. It recognises the rights, freedoms and principles contained in the charter, giving them, as we had hoped, the same legal value as the treaties. Amendment No. 87 would keep this out of the Bill, with the 10th paragraph of the preamble to Protocol 7 on the application of the charter to Poland and the UK reaffirming that references in the charter to the operation of the specific provision of the charter are strictly without prejudice to the operation of other provisions of the charter. Amendment No. 87 would also exclude the 12th paragraph, which provides that the protocol is without prejudice to the operation of other provisions of the charter. Amendment No. 88 for good measure—or bad measure—would exclude recital 12, stating that the protocol is without prejudice to other obligations devolving on the UK under Union law. Amendment No. 89 would exclude specific reference to Title IV of the charter, on economic and social rights, in the UK protocol from Section 1 of the 1972 Act. Presumably, we legislate on the basis of evidence and informed opinion. The House has had the great benefit of three reports. One was by its Constitution Committee, which includes the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, assessing the implications for the UK constitution of the Bill and the Lisbon treaty. That was published on 28 March. Another, the report of the EU Committee chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Mance—to which, I hope, I made some contribution—giving its impact assessment on the Lisbon treaty, was published on 13 March. There was a third report by the EU Committee some eight years ago, to which I have referred and to which the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, and I contributed. None of those reports contains anything in the opinions of the committees of this House that in any way supports amendments of the kind now before the Committee. The Constitution Committee’s report concluded in paragraph 67: "““We conclude that the change in status of the Charter from political document to having the force of a treaty would be less of a radical step than at first it may appear. This is because the Charter is declaratory of rights already recognised””," in the legal systems of the UK and Poland. In other words, it adds nothing new. The EU Committee report reached similar conclusions, but in this case, as any noble Lord will see, we reviewed in great detail, on the basis of evidence, each and every right and principle contained in the charter to examine its effect. We noted in paragraph 5.68 that, "““declaring the Charter to be legally binding will send a clear message to all institutions and citizens within the Union about the EU’s commitment to uphold the rights set out in the Charter””." I apologise for all these quotes, but they are necessary, I think. We said in paragraph 5.80: "““Since we consider that the Charter reaffirms rights and principles which already substantially exist, albeit in many cases only at an international level, we expect the effect of the change in the Charter’s status to be limited. Courts at both national and EU level will continue to refer to international treaty obligations to interpret the scope of fundamental rights and identify those fundamental principles which are general principles of EU law, whether or not the Charter becomes legally binding””." All this is well known to the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland, who, like me, has had the benefit and burden of reading some of the Luxembourg judgments on these issues. We expect that reference to the charter would, if the treaty of Lisbon comes into force, become more frequent as the charter’s legally binding status would make it more straightforward for individuals to enforce rights that are guaranteed under international law. We also clarified the broad legal effect of the protocol in paragraph 5.103—I will spare the Committee by not reading it now. During the debate in Committee on 22 April, the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean—who I am now delighted to see is in his place—accused Liberal Democrats of telling lies and practising deceit. The noble Lord is apparently unimpressed by Standing Order 33— "““Asperity of speech to be avoided””—" which was adopted by this House as recently as 13 June 1626. I hope that I shall not be found guilty of using ““sharp and taxing language”” in breach of Standing Order 33 when I say that the amendments tabled by the Conservative Front Bench, in this grouping, are manifestly ill founded and fly in the face of the painstaking work done by three authoritative committees of this House. I agree respectfully with the Government’s legal opinions about the effect of the charter and the treaty in this context. Neither the charter nor the treaty threatens the integrity of our legal or political system in any respect. To the contrary—and this point has not been dealt with yet by the noble Lord, Lord Kingsland—we will have, enshrined in EU law for the first time, protection against the abuse of power by EU institutions. I would have thought that the Official Opposition would cheer and welcome something that will make the institutions accountable and uphold the European rule of law. It will do nothing to disturb the work of the Strasbourg court; it will clarify the relationship between the two European courts; and I have heard no specific example of any way in which it will undermine the political or legal system of this country. I therefore oppose these amendments.