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European Union (Amendment) Bill

I am grateful to the noble Lord for moving his amendment and speaking to the other two. Amendments Nos. 40 and 41 refer to the extension of codecision to certain aspects of agriculture and fisheries policy-making. The ordinary legislative procedure—qualified majority voting and codecision—will now be the default decision-making procedure for agriculture and fisheries matters, as it has been for the environment for some time. Agriculture and fisheries policy is already subject, as the Committee will be aware, to qualified majority voting. However, the Lisbon treaty introduces codecision to this area involving the European Parliament. We have to decide where we stand on that. We believe that the European Parliament fulfils a vital role in the European Union. Its Members are directly elected, perform a very important role of scrutiny and hold the Commission to account. Even those who are sceptical about the role of the Parliament should be grateful for that because they are even more sceptical about the role of the Commission. MEPs are increasingly effective, both at raising issues of key concern—for example, climate change in recent times—and at scrutinising and improving legislation. Strengthening the European Parliament’s role increases transparency and democratic accountability. Our EU Select Committee report noted in paragraph 10.36 in relation to moving to codecision on agriculture and fisheries that: "““It will bring more transparency and accountability to the policy-making process, allowing third parties to raise concerns more easily with policy makers and facilitating national parliamentary scrutiny””." Experience in areas already subject to codecision—I have mentioned environmental policy already—has shown that proposals can be improved by the involvement of MEPs. The additional scrutiny and debate in the European Parliament will offer new opportunities for us and other member states to secure, frankly, better regulation. If I may walk down memory lane for a brief moment, in a previous role as a Defra Minister I saw for myself the valuable input that can be given on legislation by the European Parliament. There are people in Committee tonight who will well remember REACH, which implements a new EU regime for regulating the risks to human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals. That was greatly improved through the interplay between the Council and the Parliament. Thanks in part to codecision, the final REACH proposal was more in line with the principles of better regulation and provided higher protection against the most harmful chemicals. The procedure also provided greater opportunity for scrutiny and a wider debate than would have taken place between industry and the interest groups involved. We as a country have a lot of experience of dealing with the European Parliament and will certainly draw on that—and, indeed, on what we consider our good reputation—when it comes to engaging it on agriculture and fisheries. Of course, it is too early to say what the precise effects of these changes will be on reform of the CAP, animal health and welfare or fisheries policy in the EU. The reason for that is that, to be successful, the reform must take into account the political make-up of the European Parliament as well as the Governments of the member states that sit in the Council. However, the current signs in relation to the common agricultural policy health check are promising. The draft opinion of the Parliament’s rapporteur on the health check includes many issues with which the UK would agree, including some dismantling of market-supporting regimes. I note that the weight of evidence given to the EU Select Committee was favourable. Professor Simon Hix of the LSE, a leading expert on European Parliament voting patterns, suggested that surveys of MEPs had shown that in fact an overwhelming majority in the European Parliament was in favour of reforming the CAP. Professor Helen Wallace agreed that transparency of decisions would be increased by codecision. She believed that, in the past, Ministers of Agriculture, "““have been able to operate as a collusive club with rather little external scrutiny and in a way which was not very easy for national parliaments to get any handles on either””." We think that that is an important and well made point. Indeed, when my successor, my noble friend Lord Rooker, was interviewed about this by the Select Committee, he agreed that the process had been opaque.