---

Future EU Finances and Own Resources

First, I congratulate the European Scrutiny Committee on the excellent work that it does, frequently without the credit that it deserves. If it were not for its recommendation, the House would not have this opportunity to debate a matter that is of real and pressing concern to the country. It is however regrettable that we do not have a full day for this important business and our debate will necessarily be truncated, not something for which the Minister for Europe could normally be expected to take responsibility, but as he was responsible—as Leader of the House—for scheduling this week’s business, it is entirely down to him on this occasion. Nonetheless, I am delighted to see the Minister in his place. There have been times since Friday when I was worried that he might not be joining us, but I am very pleased to welcome him to his new job, or should I say back to his old job. I hope that he stays in the brief for longer than the three months that he managed before, all of which fell during the summer recess of 1999. In the less than two years that I have been shadowing Europe, he is already the third holder of his portfolio. Indeed, there has been no more consistency in personnel than there has been in the Government’s European policy, which has variously been: in favour of the euro and against it; certain that a constitution for Europe was unnecessary and passionate in its belief that an enlarged EU could not function without one; determined to secure fundamental reform of the common agricultural policy, but happy to let months of the British presidency slip away without even tabling a proposal for change; and steadfast in defence of the British rebate, and yet prepared to surrender it while gaining nothing in return. It will be interesting to see whether the new Minister follows the avowedly integrationist agenda of the current Prime Minister or the apparently more sceptical tone of the next one. His longevity in office may depend on him making the right decision. This debate is a welcome opportunity for the House to examine the shambolic events of the last 12 months as the Government have not only failed to achieve their targets, but—having conceded an unnecessarily costly budget deal in December—have flaccidly observed as the cost has escalated and the assurances they gave to British voters have proved worthless. The experience of the British EU presidency and of the budget negotiations has been sadly typical of the utter incompetence of this Labour Government. It all started so well, as so often, with the Prime Minister’s speech to the European Parliament—a speech about a ““crisis of political leadership””. Well, he should know that when he sees it. He spoke stirringly of the need to reconnect Europe with its peoples, and he spoke of a ““moment of decision””. He also set out Britain’s bottom line for the budget negotiations, linking any reduction of the British rebate to fundamental reform of the CAP and saying in terms that"““we cannot agree a new financial perspective that does not at least set out a process that leads to a more rational budget””." He spoke of the rejection of the EU constitution by two referendums as a ““wake-up call””. He said:"““It is time to give ourselves a reality check””." But like all the Prime Minister’s promises, all that has come to nothing and the ambition of his rhetoric serves only to emphasise the scale of his failure and of the massive opportunity that he has missed. The Minister spoke about the need to finance enlargement. As he said, the Opposition have always strongly supported enlargement, but the necessary funds for that process should have come from reductions in the bloated CAP budget, not from growth in the overall budget. At the beginning of their presidency, the Government set out to achieve three things—to contain the overall size of the EU budget, to achieve fundamental reform of the common agricultural policy and to protect Britain’s budget rebate, at least until such a fundamental revision of the CAP was agreed. None of those objectives was secured.