---

European Union (Amendment) Bill

We strongly support permanent structured co-operation, whose genesis lies in a United Kingdom-French initiative. We and the French have strongly supported it in the past because of its capacity to deliver in such places as the Congo. [Hon. Members: ““Yes or no?””] I have made it very clear that we strongly support permanent structured co-operation. I cannot make it any clearer. The provisions in subsections (1) to (6) are also very clear. They establish a power to make purely technical changes. For example, the article numbers in the treaties will change when the Lisbon treaty comes into force. The co-decision procedure will be renamed the ordinary legislative procedure. There will be no change in substance in the United Kingdom as a consequence of clause 3, because, as subsection (4) makes clear, it concerns"““changes in terminology or numbering arising out of the Treaty of Lisbon.””"