European Union (Amendment) Bill

I support what my noble friend on the Front Bench has said. The Sarkozy amendment was widely seen as a strange development and all the more odd because the British Government appeared to go along with it. It was not only Peter Mandelson who spoke out against it; my noble friend Lord Brittan—with whom I do not always agree on European affairs, although he is a good friend of mine—also spoke out strongly against this change being allowed. It was also roundly and firmly condemned by the Financial Times, which, in general, is supportive of the Government’s policy. The removal of the words to which my noble friend referred is seen as a big reversal for competition policy. As everyone in the Committee knows, it has always been an objective of French economic policy to get this power in Brussels modified so that the strain of French policy that has always favoured the backing of national champions could continue. Those of my noble friends and noble Lords opposite who heard the speech of President Sarkozy in the Royal Gallery will remember that when he spoke about competition he referred to it being accompanied by support for national champions. In this country and in other parts of Europe, we have got used to there being a strong competition authority in Brussels to police the internal market and to ensure that there is no backsliding to the long-past, long-discredited era of subsidies and backing national champions. Alas, in recent years, there has been some evidence that Governments in Europe are increasingly resisting the powers of the Commission. Noble Lords may remember that, after the troubles at Société Générale, the French Minister of Finance declared that the French Government would not let the bank be taken over by another European bank or another bank from elsewhere. It was only when Brussels started making some noises that that was not within the power of the French Government that they decided to say that they had never said this at all. Similarly, there were instances in Spain where, in contested bids for companies in the energy sector, the Spanish Government indicated that they did not wish the full flow of market forces to have effect. The amendment that my noble friend has put down is extremely important. These powers are needed more than ever today because of the way in which Europe has been slipping away from what we call the internal market, which is always said by the Government and others to be the great achievement of the European Union. Nobody would applaud the internal market more than me. However, I have heard it declared many times that the internal market has been completed, whereas it is never completed but goes on and on. Anybody who knows anything about takeovers in the financial sector with countries such as Germany knows that the internal market is not the reality that people always claim that it is. The removal of the powers at the centre of the European Union to police competition and to ensure the full play of market forces is extremely important. I put it to the Government that it is a most retrograde step that the treaty was altered in this way. I strongly support the amendment of my noble friend.