European Union (Amendment) Bill

That does not seem to be the issue that arises in the amendment, which appears to envisage a process of renegotiation. How does the noble Lord see that going? I presume that the renegotiation would be of some of the terms of the treaty of Maastricht, to which he and his friends have objected. At the first European Council, the new British Prime Minister would say, ““The chair should please get out, because we don’t agree that there should be a permanent chair. It would be helpful, therefore, if we looked back in the alphabet and decided who, on the rotation of the chairs, should now be in the chair of this European Council””. Let us suppose that the others do not agree. One of the distinguishing marks of a treaty renegotiation is that, although anybody can ask for one, it takes unanimity to open it. Does the noble Lord think that all the other members of the European Union, having ratified the treaty—presumably because they think that it contains some quite good things—would agree that the treaty should be reopened because the British Prime Minister, in the situation described, asked for it?