The Future of EU Enlargement

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Wednesday 26th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock]

My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, as always. I say to him and to others that as the minutes ticked by earlier this afternoon and this evening, I realised what a dedicated lot members of the European Union Select Committee are. I particularly congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Boswell. Before the noble Lord, Lord Roper, disappears, I would like to say how wonderfully the noble Lord, Lord Boswell, has taken over from the excellent work that the noble Lord, Lord Roper, did previously.

Earlier today, in the debate on Scottish separation, one of my colleagues said to me, “You are one of the usual suspects on Scottish separation. Why are you not taking part in this debate?”. Well, obviously, it was because I wanted even more to participate in this debate this evening. There is a connection. If the people of Scotland were unwise enough to vote for separation in September next year, Scotland would have to join the queue for accession as a new member. We deal with this in our report. We point out that it can take a very long time for everything to be agreed, even for a state which had been part of a member state previously.

I welcome the report’s support for enlargement. As the noble Lord, Lord Boswell, said, there are benefits to Britain in terms of our exports to central and eastern Europe which trebled in the decade between 2001 and 2011 and also in terms of the political benefits—the greater stability that we have in Europe as a result of the strengthening of the European Union. Conditionality has been so successful in putting leverage on the applicant countries to democratise, to ensure the rule of law in their countries and other improvements. That power of conditionality has been much more effective than any urging or other kind of pressure might have been.

However, the report expresses some concerns about the loss of momentum on enlargement. I share those concerns. After Croatia, no new countries are expected for a decade. That means a real halt in the process of enlargement that has been going on for some time and it will be disheartening for the applicants. I take in particular the case of Turkey. My own view is that recent events in Turkey have increased rather than decreased the need for Turkey to move towards EU membership. Whether it is any likelier or not is a different matter, but I certainly think that it would help. The Government promised to “re-energise” the accession process for Turkey. Can the Minister clarify what progress has been made in re-energising this process, particularly in making sure that the objections from Cyprus and France are dealt with in the discussions?

I have two caveats in relation to enlargement. The first, as we say in the report, is that there should not be a rush to agree to countries being allowed in as members without sorting out difficulties first. The noble Lord, Lord Boswell, mentioned Cyprus. That teaches us that border disputes must be resolved first. This is a message to Serbia in particular which I hope goes out loud and clear. It is a precondition of Serbia’s ultimate membership that the dispute over its claim to Kosovo is resolved. Bulgaria and Romania remind us that we should not rush to agree membership until all the acquis have been complied with. We should not expect that they can be sorted out afterwards.

My second caveat in relation to enlargement is a personal one, probably not shared by all—or any—of the other members of the Select Committee. Europe is not infinitely elastic on the eastern side. The northern and western boundaries are clearly defined by the oceans, the southern boundary is defined by the Mediterranean Sea, but the eastern boundary is not clear. I have personal reservations about countries self-defining themselves as European and then being accepted as long as they satisfy the acquis. We should not be straying into taking over—annexing, in effect—what are essentially Asian countries just because they want to classify themselves as European and be members of the European Union.

We then come to the question of differential membership: flexible geometry, two-tier, associate membership or however you would like to describe it. Our Prime Minister sometimes seems to hanker after some kind of associate membership for the United Kingdom but the Government’s response to our report, thankfully, rejects a permanent alternative to full membership. Perhaps, if I am not asking too much of her, the Minister could explain this apparent schizophrenia coming from the Government. Perhaps it is because she is in one party and the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, is in another or some such underlying effect. The noble Lord, Lord Wallace, tells me they are joined at the hip, I do not believe that.

Finally, because I want to keep well within my time, all of this assumes that we stay in the European Union. My clear, strong, unequivocal view is that we benefit greatly from European Union membership and that, as an important corollary, other countries benefit from the United Kingdom being a member of the European Union, which is not an unimportant matter. The isolationist, Little Englander argument of UKIP is exactly the same as the one used by the SNP trying to break up Britain. Exactly the same arguments are being used and they are equally wrong.

Of course the European Union needs reform, but we should not arrogantly believe that we are the only ones who see the faults in the European Union—in the Commission, in the structures, and other aspects of it. Other countries do as well. We should, however, seek reform from within, building alliances with those who share our views on the necessary reform. There will be different alliances with different countries on different issues. It takes work and time but it can, and should, be done. We should not be idly threatening to leave the Union if it does not do what we think is right.

This report, like the others from the European Union Select Committee, represents a very constructive part of the process of necessary reform within the European Union and I strongly endorse it.