European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill [Lords]

Debate between James Clappison and Denis MacShane

Monday 10th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Clappison]

I am sorry. It was the EFSM—the European financial stabilisation mechanism. That is different from the EFSF. Britain had liability under one of the two measures agreed in May 2010; it was the EFSM, not the EFSF.

I do not want to make many further points about this matter, because we went into it in the previous debate, but it was agreed in May 2010 that, under the EFSM, this country would have liability in relation to the eurozone which would have resulted in British taxpayers having to fork out with no prospect of Britain receiving any benefit from the EFSM because it was not a eurozone member. [Interruption.] If the hon. Member for Cheltenham can just contain his enthusiasm, he will see the point that I am trying to make on the timetable for all these measures to take effect. That is what the amendment relates to. He will know that there is agreement that, as soon as the European stability mechanism is in force, Britain will no longer have any such liability. It is not yet in force, however, and there are important issues regarding the timing of these events. That is what the amendment deals with. The Bill will come into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

[Mr MacShane]

If, as seems possible, Ireland were again to find itself in the terrible trouble that it did two years ago, would the hon. Gentleman support help being given by Her Majesty’s Treasury to try to stabilise Ireland, as we did very generously—led by the Prime Minister—in 2010, or is he against any help being given to any other European country?

[Mr Clappison]

The main problem affecting the eurozone is the existence of the euro itself. It is the euro that is causing the loss of competitiveness across Europe, inflicting misery on the southern European states and, indeed, all the countries that have had to apply for a bail-out. The right hon. Gentleman must put his hands up and say that he has consistently argued in favour of British membership of the euro. He must take his share of the responsibility. How these matters are to be mitigated is a different matter, but I believe that the ultimate solution will involve a reconfiguration of the eurozone itself. [Interruption.] The right hon. Gentleman says he thinks that that is a slur on his character. He will have a chance to put that right in due course, but as I understand it, he is still in favour, in principle, of British membership of the euro, as, I think, are members of his Front Bench, although they do not tell us exactly when that should take place. But this is going wider than the matter in hand, and I should like to return to amendment 1.

On the day on which the Bill is passed, the European stability mechanism might not yet have come into force. Its ratification has been held up in at least two member states, with significant challenges having been mounted in their constitutional courts, and there is a possibility of challenges in other member states as well. We know that such a challenge is before the constitutional courts in Ireland, as well as in Germany, where important hearings are to take place later this week.

It is significant that the need to satisfy German constitutional concerns seems to have been one of the reasons for proposing the amendment to article 136 of the treaty in the first place, in order to shore up the legal position of the European financial stabilisation mechanism when there was doubt about whether it was actually needed. That amendment to the European treaty, which was introduced through the simplified revision mechanism, served to shore up the treaty and give legal comfort to the German constitutional court, among others.

I should like to ask the Minister some specific questions, and I would be grateful if he dealt with them in his usual able and comprehensive way. Will he tell us, in the light of those factors, whether Britain will remain liable for any new commitments entered into under the original EFSM, which we entered into in May 2010, until the European stability mechanism takes effect after the ratification procedures have been completed by all the member states? Will that be the case, and even though this Bill might have come into force in the meantime, will we nevertheless retain liability under the EFSM—the original EFSM—until the ESM comes into force? What will be the position if the ESM does not come into force as a result of ratification problems? In that case, could we still have liabilities—new liabilities—under the EFSM? Will the Minister say a few words, too, about existing liabilities under the EFSM? As I have already said, I believe the Prime Minister got a good deal for Britain in the original negotiations, but what is the position on existing liabilities under the EFSM? Will the Minister quantify for us what the Government view as possible future liabilities under the terms of the EFSM?

The Minister will understand a wish for us to have as much detail and certainty as possible in respect of the legal and financial arrangements of the European Union, the institutions of which—including the European Court—have shown themselves to be somewhat flexible in the past, if not completely elastic in their legal interpretations, particularly of treaties. No better example of such flexibility can there be than the so-called legal justification for the EFSM in the first place. As the Minister will recall, this was article 122, which allows financial assistance to be given to a member state facing difficulties

“caused by natural disasters or exceptional occurrences beyond its control”.

As I have already indicated in response to interventions, I believe that the current crisis affecting Europe—the European debt crisis—is not an act of God, but an act of man in the shape of human fallibility over the European single currency. The Government are right to restrict our liability for this, but I would like Ministers to go further in their analysis of the problems. I understand the diplomatic reasons that might restrain them from doing so, but I have heard the incantation so many times before—that “a stable eurozone is in the interests of the United Kingdom”. We hear it all the time. It is inherent in the structure of the eurozone that we see the problems arising throughout Europe today, and that incantation is really quite meaningless and bears no relation to the problems that Europe faces. The truth remains that the euro lies at the root of the economic problems presently ravaging Europe and of all the misery caused throughout Europe but particularly in the southern European countries in the shape of very high levels of unemployment, debt and uncertainty, which is ravaging the prospects of a generation. It is the euro and the political ambitions that lie behind it—ambitions for a centralised, unified European state—that lie at the very root of these problems.

[Mr MacShane]

In responding to how the hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr Clappison) has introduced his amendment, one might as well say that the pound is the fault and the root cause of all our problems. In my Rotherham constituency, 25% of young people are without work. There is economic and social misery there, but do I attribute it to the fact that we have a certain currency? The notion that a currency causes bad Government policy is absurd.

Inter-Parliamentary Scrutiny (EU Foreign, Defence and Security Policy)

Debate between James Clappison and Denis MacShane

Thursday 10th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr MacShane]

I accept that fully and it is true of all inter-parliamentary oversight committees. We are, willy-nilly, increasingly having to discuss how, collectively, at European level, we express our common foreign policy goals when we decide what they are. Yesterday, the Prime Minister slapped down the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone) when he called for an in/out EU referendum. The Prime Minister said, “We are staying in the EU and that is it.” I am glad that he said that after five years of encouraging the hopes of Eurosceptics, but if it is the case, this House has to work out how best to take part in debates and decisions on what Europe is going to do—we cannot wish it away.

I am not criticising the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee or the officials who have worked on this report, because it is probably the best they could manage of a bad job, but it is exactly a reflection of our House’s inability to network and create alternative sources of democratic parliamentary legitimacy and oversight for what is done at European level.

[Mr Clappison]

rose—

[Mr MacShane]

I am trying to finish my remarks, but I shall give way one last time.

[Mr Clappison]

I am listening with great interest to the right hon. Gentleman. I agree with his analysis that more decisions are being taken at European level. Does he think that that process enjoys the democratic consent of the British people?

European Union Bill

Debate between James Clappison and Denis MacShane

Tuesday 25th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr MacShane]

On the contrary, there are anomalies with the EAW. I have cases myself involving the Polish authorities, in particular, sending out generalised arrest warrants for people who have done little more than nick a bike. None the less, a law is a law is a law. If we want criminals whom we want dealt with in Britain to be sent back here, we have to accept that what is sauce for our criminal goose has to be sauce for other criminal gander.

[Mr James Clappison (Hertsmere) (Con)]

I invite the right hon. Gentleman to contemplate the evidence given to the Home Affairs Committee by an eminent lawyer in the field of extradition about the extent of the problem he has just described: arrest warrants coming from Poland and other eastern European places for trivial offences, resulting in many of those on the receiving end of one being locked up in British prisons and police stations, wasting a considerable amount of time and occupying valuable space.