European Union (Amendment) Bill

moved Amendment No. 70: 70: Clause 2, page 1, line 12, after ““excluding”” insert— ““(i) Article 2, paragraph 147, inserted Article 176A TEC (TFEU), relating to energy; and (ii) ”” The noble Lord said: This amendment concerns a new article that can be found by a diligent search in the current treaty—difficult though it is to find these headings. I call it new but it is an almost identical copy, with one small addition to what was in the previous draft of the rejected constitutional treaty. Almost all the text of the treaty is embodied in this Bill. In no area is more nonsense talked about the technicalities of an issue than in energy policy. There is a great deal of enthusiasm, lobbying and favourite causes being promoted and rather more smoke—possibly heat—than light, in this area. Behind the arrival of this new clause in this treaty and in the previous constitutional treaty is the aspiration for what is called a common EU energy policy. The treaty provisions that introduce a new energy competence and allow the introduction of legislation in this area by qualified majority voting refer to all sorts of attractive sounding things, such as solidarity, security of supply, energy efficiency, interconnection of networks—a real benefit—and other admirable objectives, such as reduced carbon emissions. It is a classic example of a clause being paved with good intentions. We know, of course, where they often lead. The interesting thing is that the Government fought very hard to keep energy out of the treaty altogether and to prevent it coming into the convention. The Minister at the time, Mr Hain, said: "““This provision is unnecessary as all aspects of energy policy are effectively covered elsewhere in the Treaty. For example, the single market environment etc””." He added: "““We have detailed concerns on the text””." We, too, have detailed concerns and would like them answered. My overall concern is that the rhetoric of this article and the realities of energy security and problems are miles—perhaps I should have said kilometres—apart. I would not dispute for a moment the fact that some extremely dangerous energy supply and security issues lie just ahead. Some of us would say that they are already here. Crude oil prices are at staggering levels—in real terms, they are above those reached in the early 1980s—and rising to $126 and $130. As we discovered two winters ago, we have unreliable gas supplies but a heavy dependence—about 40 per cent—on gas for our electricity. When I had some responsibility for these things a quarter of a century ago, it was 1 per cent but now 40 per cent of our daily electricity supply is gas-fired. We have concerns about the storage of gas and why we have fewer days for storage than our continental neighbours. We have concerns about the wild oscillation in gas prices. We have endless dithering over the need to resume our nuclear power programme. We still have not made the right decisions, but when we do, it will take us nine or 10 years to get new plants up and running. We have the prospect of power shortages between 2010 and 2016, as an increasing number of experts are pointing out. We have the over-zealotry of some of the perfectly proper enthusiasts for a greener, more sustainable planet, which seems to lead to the excessive piling on of fuel and energy taxes, charges and subsidies, regardless of the fuel poverty that they create. Inevitably, that makes environmental policies unpopular and threatens economic growth. We also have the biofuels errors, which the government scientist described as insane policies, and the consequent rise in food prices and the starving of the poor which are caused by those energy-related programmes. I cannot understand why some EU leaders or our own Foreign Secretary seem to be in denial about the relationship between the biofuels commitment element in European energy policy and the enormous increase in food prices in the past two or three years, which has led to unrest and riots in 33 countries. The Washington Institute of Food Research, which is very authoritative and respected, calculated that crop switching accounts for between one-quarter and one-third of the food price rise worldwide.