[Sylvia Heal in the Chair] — New Clause 4 — Political parties at European level (No. 1)

Part of Orders of the Day — European Communities (Amendment) Bill — [3rd Allotted Day] – in the House of Commons at 5:15 pm on 18 July 2001.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr Roger Casale Mr Roger Casale Labour, Wimbledon 5:15, 18 July 2001

If the hon. Gentleman believes that political parties can reconnect people with the political process, he should support the concept of European political parties. He claims that he objects to it.

The amendments deal with the role of the House of Commons in scrutinising European Union measures. Time and again, Conservative Members have tabled amendments to provide for further debate in the House on any new initiatives from the European Union. Yet we already have a good and effective scrutiny mechanism for European legislation: the European Scrutiny Committee.

At a meeting of that Committee this morning, we held a debate about the statute to regulate European political parties. Mr. Spring referred to the work of the European Scrutiny Committee at an earlier stage in our deliberations, when article 191 was discussed. The Committee scrutinised it and we discussed it again this morning. We decided that we were happy to lift the scrutiny reserve on the draft statute. It is therefore wrong to claim that, without the amendments, no scrutiny of any statute to regulate the work of the European Parliament will occur.