European Union (Amendment) Bill

In that case, I have two specific questions for the Minister. The first is: what has happened to the framework agreement, signed at Farnborough in August 2000, between France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, "““concerning measures to facilitate the restructuring and operation of the European defence industry””?" I have the document before me; I am not quite sure of its status. I merely ask the Minister: what has happened to it and does it still apply? I shall briefly quote further from it: "““The objectives of this Agreement are to promote harmonisation of the military requirements of [the] armed forces””," of the countries that are signatories to the document. I quote again from Article 4:– "““The Parties recognise that the likely consequences of industrial restructuring will be the creation of TDCs””—" that is, transnational defence companies— "““possible abandonment of national industrial capacity and thus the acceptance of mutual dependence””." I shall not go on quoting the agreement, but would like to know—