European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, the justification for moving the amendment is not that this is likely but that ““the idea is around””. A great many ideas about European integration are around. During the dinner hour I ran across the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, on his way home and I upbraided him for going home. I was imagining that if he had stayed here he might have wanted to raise the question of whether it was possible to envisage a European federation eventually having a European emperor. After all, there are some candidates for this—a Hohenzollern or two, a Bonaparte and a Habsburg. Some of us have met Otto von Habsburg, who was a Member of the European Parliament for the Christian Social Union in Bavaria. Some noble Lords may also remember a wonderful story. He was asked one evening whether he was going to watch the Austria-Hungary football match. He said, ““Yes, perhaps I will. Who are we playing against?””. The fact that these ideas are around does not necessarily mean that we should be taking them seriously. In the Daily Mail this morning, Melanie Phillips tells us that the European Union is incompatible with democracy. The idea is around. Should we take it seriously? There are some on the Conservative Benches who do take that seriously, but I trust that the noble Lord, Lord Howell, does not.