European Union (Amendment) Bill

This concerns a very important new provision in the treaty. We should make no mistake about it: it is a further step on the way to creating a centralised European state. There can be no other reason for it. Indeed, from the point of view of the smaller nations, it is a retrograde step; with a rotating presidency, at least they have a turn at that office. I am not at all sure that from now on they will ever have a turn at holding the presidency of the European Union. In history, whenever an office such as this—a chairman of something—has been set up, it has always evolved. The chairman wants more power and the members want to give him more power because, if he has more power, there is less for them to do. Therefore, all history shows that, once you give senior office to people, the whole thing tends to develop into a new power centre. If people do not believe that, they should look at the development of the European Parliament. I think that the European Parliament came into existence under the Single European Act but before then it had been a European Assembly. Until 1977, it was not a directly elected assembly but a representative body of the national parliaments. However, as soon as it became directly elected, as some of us predicted, it became more powerful. It was renamed as a parliament, and in each treaty since the Single European Act the European Parliament has accreted to itself, or has been given, new powers so that it has become a much more important part of the European Union. Indeed, only this afternoon, just before this debate, we saw that it had accrued new powers under this treaty. As I said, all history shows that once you make an office permanent—indeed, when you create an office for which you do not immediately know what the powers will be—there is every incentive to build that office into a very powerful position. We are being asked to give permission to a pig in a poke. We do not know what powers will be exercised by the new president. We know that he will try to accrue more powers to himself and, of course, the ultimate aim will be an elected president by universal suffrage. That is the end product and it is what the new president and the people who believe in a united federal state of Europe want. I appreciate that there is nothing wrong with that. I do not want it; nevertheless, that is what it is all about. This evening, we are being asked to create a permanent presidency or semi-permanent presidency or whatever it is called—it will, at any rate, last for up to five years—and certainly for the first two and a half years the president will build up his position so that he gets elected for another two and a half years. We have seen it all before. I feel sure that the noble Baroness will reassure me on this. She will say, ““Of course, the British Government do not believe any of this at all. They simply think that, as we heard earlier, it will be a more efficient way of driving things forward””. However, I do not want things to be driven forward. Nevertheless, that is what we will be told the role is about. At present, however, we are aware that private discussions are going on about the role of the presidency. Some pretty powerful people believe that it should be a leading role and that the president should in fact act like one, not like a lord mayor. Our former Prime Minister foresaw this position as being one where the President of the European Council spoke for Europe on the world stage—quite clearly, a powerful post indeed. Noble Lords will have seen that when Mr Blair’s name was put forward for the post of president, he quite clearly said that he would consider accepting the position only if it were a powerful one. He did not want any sort of job that was simply meeting people or holding banquets and what have you for visiting diplomats or heads of state. He sees it, as he saw it at the beginning, as a powerful position—one that will get more powerful as time goes on. The Prime Minister of Belgium certainly sees the position as very powerful, and has said as much. I believe that he is a candidate as well. He has said that if he gets into the job, he will be trying to make it very important indeed. People know my position on the European Union. It has always been made plain. I agree with nothing that enhances its reputation and powers. I believe that a president will do that, therefore I am against it.