European Union (Amendment) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 6:45 pm on 4 June 2008.

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Photo of Baroness Ludford Baroness Ludford Liberal Democrat 6:45, 4 June 2008

My Lords, Amendment No. 5, as I understand it—I may have misread it—is not about immigration but about asylum and having a common asylum policy. I think that I explained why I thought that it was a good idea to have a common EU asylum policy and the fact that the UK has opted in to all the measures. The Government have taken a hard-headed look at it and seen that it is a good idea. I think that it is Article 63 and not 63a. Article 63 is asylum policy, not immigration. I do not know whether there is a misunderstanding but I think that I have explained my view on a common asylum policy.

On Amendment No. 4, I think that the best thing that the UK Government could do is to take an active role. Even if we do not opt in, there are many ways in which the UK Government can contribute to the development of rational and firm external borders in the EU. It is a bit regrettable that the European Court of Justice ruled against our membership of FRONTEX and I hope that the other member states will acknowledge that the UK has a contribution to make in this area. I do not think that this approach will be terribly helpful, as it is rather passive. I want to see us contribute actively even if we ultimately do not opt in.

We have not opted in to Schengen and for the time being we maintain our own border controls, but the best thing that we can do as a country and a Government is to participate in as much as possible—as we are doing with the Schengen information system, which is to do with the security of the United Kingdom as much as the security of the Schengen zone. I think that this rather static approach is not as good as a dynamic one in which the UK Government take a full, strong role in policy discussions in Brussels, as they largely already do, even if they do not opt in to legal measures. That is a much better approach than the one in Amendment No. 4.