European Union (Amendment) Bill

moved Amendment No. 9: 9: Clause 2, page 1, line 12, after ““excluding”” insert— ““(i) Article 1, paragraph 16, inserted Article 9B TEU, paragraph 6, so far as it relates to the role of the President of the European Council in external representation of the Union; and (ii) ”” The noble Lord said: I approach this amendment with trepidation, because I am aware that it is the only thing that stands between your Lordships in Committee and some fortification before we turn to even more important issues that lie immediately ahead. As this is the first opportunity I have had to move an amendment on the second day of Committee, I start with what is best described as a correction. My memory of the precise numbers of Hymns Ancient and Modern was at fault. It was kindly pointed out to me—both by the former Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, the noble Lord, Lord Jay, and by the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire—that I had got either the number or the hymn wrong. It was not Abide with Me, it was Lead, Kindly Light, hymn 215. I want to put that on the record and I hope that your Lordships will allow that correction. We come to a debate of considerable significance—I hope that most people, possibly even our Liberal Democrat colleagues, will agree on that—concerning the new role of the more entrenched president. Of course, there were presidents before, but Article 15(b) of the new treaty proposes, under subsection 6(d): "““The President of the European Council shall, at his or her level and in that capacity, ensure the external representation of the Union on issues concerning its common foreign and security policy, without prejudice to the powers of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy””." It adds: "““The President of the European Council shall not hold a national office””." We have already touched on this matter in debate, although rather tangentially. The wording is identical to that in the earlier, rejected constitution, except that the reference now is to the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs instead of to the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs—otherwise, it is just the same. This president is to be put in place for two and a half years, renewable once and chosen by qualified majority voting. This is identical to what is in the constitution. I know that we have had long debates, and will no doubt have more, about the degree to which this treaty represents what has gone before in what was called the Constitutional Treaty, and indeed, since our last Committee meetings, the noble Baroness has been good enough to circulate quite a few letters that we have all received. The noble Baroness has been extremely busy in her letter-writing and one letter she sent explains her views on why this treaty is different, and attaches a long paper from a learned professor to that effect. I said that I would not trade quotations and I am not going to trade professors, either—although I have a whole raft of professors or considerable distinction saying the opposite to her professor. I think we would tire each other if we paraded all their views at length. All that can be concluded is that professorial opinions and academic opinions of equal weight, worth and reputation are in total conflict on this issue that the Government have rather dug in on; namely, their claim that the Constitutional Treaty and this treaty are not broadly the same. I turn to the role of the president, as proposed in his or her new capacity. We should give considerable time to this—possibly more than our colleagues in the other place were able to, for various reasons—because the democratic instinct needs to be mobilised and applied carefully when it comes to appointing new figures, placing them on high pedestals and giving them powers that in the modern world can lead—this is the result of the networked world and the information age—to the magnification of celebrity at one extreme and the suppression of run of the mill and ordinary performance at the other. It is said that the effect of the information age is to increase the disparities between the lucky or meritorious ones who become famous, and the rest of us who fall into grey obscurity. We need to approach this presidential issue very carefully. The noble Lord, Lord Wedderburn, in his recent pamphlet, warns us—no, he is not in his place—that we should be very careful when it comes to presidents.