European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken. I begin by making clear what happened with the response to the Constitution Committee report, which was published last Wednesday. Under the usual procedures of the House it was sent to the clerk to the committee, with copies for all committee members. Copies were placed in the Printed Paper Office, where noble Lords have been able to find it since last Wednesday. It was sent to the Libraries of both Houses. I also asked that it should go to Members who had spoken in debate. I will have to check whether that happened, as I have not had a chance to go back to my office. Certainly, all the usual procedures of how we publish a document were followed. I referred to the response at least once earlier in today’s debate. I am sorry that the noble Lord, Lord Howell, found it on his desk. I am not suggesting that he was implying that that was my fault, as it certainly was not. I have obeyed, as noble Lords would expect, every process. In fact, I have done everything that I can think of to inform noble Lords, including copying every letter to everybody. Every process has been adhered to extremely strictly. I hope that the noble Lord will accept that that was the case. While noble Lords were talking, I was just reminding myself of what Article 352 says. When we talk about it, it is important to consider it in the context of what the words actually mean. I am just going to read a little bit of what Article 352 says. It is the updated version of Article 308, which I know has been an issue that scrutiny committees in your Lordships’ House and another place have raised before. Noble Lords referred to the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch. He is not the only one, but he is certainly the most assiduous person in this. I am sorry that he is not here, but that is his choice, as indeed it was the choice of noble Lords opposite to debate this amendment as this time of night. We have a whole day left and, at the moment, only one amendment down. We could certainly have discussed this much earlier in the day if noble Lords had wished to, but the choice was not mine. The article says: "““If action by the Union should prove necessary, within the framework of the policies defined in the Treaties, to attain one of the objectives set out in the Treaties, and the Treaties have not provided the necessary powers, the Council, acting unanimously on a proposal from the Commission and after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament, shall adopt the appropriate measures””." There are quite important caveats built into that: unanimity; the proposal from the Commission and consent of the Parliament, which is new; and making sure that it is concerned with what is provided within the treaties and not beyond. Noble Lords will know that that has been important from a UK point of view in, for example, providing financial assistance to third countries, including Lebanon and Georgia, where we were concerned to ensure that there was macroeconomic stabilisation. So there is a value to this article—formerly Article 308, now Article 352—in helping us to address issues that could not have been foreseen but are absolutely within the treaty, and in ensuring that the safeguards are completely clear. As noble Lords have said, let us be clear as to what those are. I have described one as unanimity, which means that the UK—and any other member state—can say no. We have talked about the consent of the European Parliament, so the democratic institution in Europe will have the right to say yes or no. Of course, as the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, mentioned, national Parliaments will be able to play what have become known as yellow or orange cards; they could be used in this context, to raise concerns with the Commission and for Parliaments to say that this is not a way forward that they find acceptable. The noble Lord, Lord Hannay, made it clear that it is not a passerelle. It does not change the treaty, because it can only be used to give effect to a treaty objective: something that has already been determined. I have outlined what the procedure would be. The Government’s position is clear. We have listened with enormous care to the scrutiny committees. In our response to the Constitution Committee, we have also made it clear that every explanatory memorandum submitted to the committees for proposals with what was Article 308 as the sole legal basis has contained an explanation of the justification of the use of that article. We will continue in exactly the same vein under Article 352. There is a welcome clarification in what has been described under Article 352. The procedure that will be used and the consents that will be needed are clearer. As I have already indicated, we of course have a veto on it. I therefore hope that the noble Lord will feel able to withdraw his amendment.