European Union (Amendment) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:15 pm on 12 May 2008.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lord Howell of Guildford Lord Howell of Guildford Shadow Minister, Foreign Affairs, Deputy Shadow Leader, Parliament, Shadow Minister (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs), Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Lords 3:15, 12 May 2008

I do not want to obfuscate in any way, but I said a moment ago that the European Community, under previous treaties, had a legal personality and that the EU under previous treaties, by virtue of its power in certain limited areas to sign international treaties, de facto had a degree of legal personality. That is argued by learned professors in lengthy papers. I hope that I understood the probably very deep question of the noble Lord, but that is what I said and that is the position. The clarification that I now seek from the Government on behalf of Parliament regards exactly what is implied in the future manufacture, construction and architecture of treaties that are negotiated and put together by the European Union. Obviously, some new questions arise.

I was referring to the past views of the Government, because those views have changed. Mr Hain, on behalf of the Government, said that we can support a legal personality for the Union only if the special arrangements for CFSP and some aspects of justice and home affairs have been protected. In our view, they certainly have not been protected. The previous Prime Minister, Mr Blair, specifically told the other place at the beginning of his premiership that,

"others wanted to give the European Union ... legal personality across all the pillars of the treaty. At our insistence, that was removed".—[Hansard, Commons, 18/6/97; col. 314.]

It seems that that insistence has evaporated and some very important questions arise, which I want to put to the Minister. The first is: what powers will the high representative—the Foreign Secretary of the Union—have in negotiating major new international treaties, particularly those governing, as all international treaties do, important areas of foreign policy? What will be the national parliamentary check on Ministers where major positions are taken up or conceded? I realise the difficulties involved as they have always been faced by Governments wishing to negotiate, with parliaments rightly wishing to know what is being conceded, argued or claimed, as it were, in private. I do not deny the difficulty, but we have heard a lot about giving Parliament a bigger say in decisions—about going to war, for instance—so what about powers over binding treaties in our name that could lead to major commitments in the future? Just what are we in for on that front?

At the very least, as our Amendment No. 26A proposes, both Houses need a clear report before the Bill rolls forward and it comes into force as an Act, setting out how the independent or interdependent representation of our national interest and purposes in international bodies and other international arrangements—arrangements that we value greatly in this country, giving us considerable sway on and entrée to the global scene—are going to be upheld once the extended legal personality power for the whole Union is in place. We believe that a report of that kind should require the affirmative resolutions of both Houses.

There was a time when arguing that Parliament should have a greater say in treaties before they were finally signed was a bit out of fashion. We were told that it was all a matter for the Executive and the royal prerogative and so on. I remember many decades ago being impertinent and bold enough as a young Member of the other place to argue that I was a Parliament man. Most people had no idea what one was talking about, but nowadays things have changed and it is all the rage to call for more parliamentary powers over the Executive and the royal prerogative, and for a greater say in all aspects of executive decisions. Indeed, as I have already mentioned, the proposal that Parliament should have a say in the declaration of war is now before us. However, there is a clear move in the treaty, alas, to make for fewer parliamentary powers by our Parliament over executive action, as competence passes elsewhere and accountability is obviously diluted. That trend, as in so many spheres that we are debating in the Bill, is not toward a stronger and more democratic Europe closer to the people but is in the wrong way. It needs to be resisted. For those reasons, I beg to move.