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Treaty of Lisbon (No. 2)

Under no circumstances would the European Union, which believes in a liberal economy and free competition—I shall return to the hon. Gentleman's views on undistorted competition in a few minutes—wish to interfere with private contracts. This has been put to the hon. Gentleman before, but repetition has considerable merit when it comes to dealing with the Conservatives. Article 176A states:"““Such measures shall not affect a Member States's right to determine the conditions for exploiting its energy resources, its choice between different energy sources and the general structure of its energy supply””." If the Opposition concentrated on the serious matters posed by the treaty instead of trying to invent a whole series of fanciful forecasts of what might happen in the future, we would be able to have a better debate.