European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, as we speak, I believe the Czechs are putting out a statement postponing ratification until the court has delivered a judgment in the autumn. If that is the case, noble Lords certainly ought to know. The real reason why we should respond to the Irish vote is not that 1 per cent of Europe’s population should decide the fate of the other 99 per cent, as has recently been said in Berlin, but that that 1 per cent is a proxy for the 400 million citizens of voting age in the European Union who have not been given a voice. That is why I support this amendment. The French and the Dutch, as we know, voted against the constitution. Britain would reject this treaty by an impressive majority. Even Germany, the polls suggest, would vote against it; so, probably, would Scandinavian and east European countries. These are not marginal countries; they are Europe’s founders, success stories and oldest democracies. We have heard many disobliging comments about referendums. We are told that in referendums—though apparently not in general elections—the public vote for the wrong reasons. Resentment of Chirac, the Daily Mail, Rupert Murdoch, incitement by Pim Fortuyn and potential political extremism have all been blamed at different times for the growing number of no votes—12 in all—that the peoples of Europe have registered. We do not hear these excuses when the people vote yes. Such votes are just pocketed and the people become illustrations of Europe’s respect for democracy. I spent many hours on Monday with Mr Declan Ganley, who ran the Libertas campaign for a no vote in Ireland. Your Lordships should know that he is a very serious businessman and very strong pro-European and has studied every word of the treaty. He will not be rolled over easily by modifications. Libertas campaigned on greater democracy, transparency and accountability in Europe. Where the campaign was supported by Sinn Fein it invariably lost votes. It won with a high turnout against the entire Irish political establishment, which outspent it by 15:1. Yet, more than 80 per cent of those who voted no were supporters of the mainstream, pro-treaty political parties. When the French and the Dutch rejected the constitution, the Government stopped trying to ratify it. If the same thing does not happen when a little country rejects a treaty, what will the public think? Their worst suspicions will be confirmed, that when the Government can get away with it they push ahead, and only when they face certain defeat in a referendum do they reluctantly do the right thing. The Irish vote will now be ““analysed””—that is what they call it—which is code for a concerted effort to explain the vote away and to persuade the Irish to change their mind. But the unpalatable truth is that the affection for the Community that once used to exist is undermined, as my noble friend Lord King said, by just this sort of cynical manoeuvring by the political class. We do not know what will happen next and whether Ireland will stand on the rule of law. I believe that it will. The rule of law was established by the treaty of Rome as a community of nation-states—in which case this treaty is dead. Possibly, but very much less likely, modifications will be offered which require a modified response by this country. By closing off our options today, we would help those who wish to do so to put pressure on Ireland, but we would gain absolutely nothing and would sacrifice far too much standing with the people whose assent is indispensable to democracy in this country and in Europe.