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European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, I was not trying to curtail the debate; I was trying more to feed it into the debate on the amendment. I make no apologies for that, but I hope to allay the concerns of the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, and those of the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Alloway, which he expressed in his earlier speech in particular. Let me be very clear so that it is on the record and everyone understands exactly what I mean. When I read out the Foreign Secretary’s Statement on Monday night, I said: "““The rules of the treaty and the European Union are clear. All 27 member states must ratify the treaty for it to come into force””.—[Official Report, 16/6/08; col. 853.]" That is clearly set out in the treaty. It is unambiguous. For the record, Article 6.2 of the final provisions of the Lisbon treaty is clear on this. It says: "““This Treaty shall enter into force on 1 January 2009, provided that all the instruments of ratification have been deposited, or, failing that, on the first day of the month following the deposit of the instrument of ratification by the last signatory State to take this step””." Article 48 of the current EU treaty, under which the Lisbon treaty was negotiated, also makes it absolutely clear that amendments to the current treaties can enter into force only, "““after being ratified by all Member States””." The Foreign Secretary and I have already made it clear in our discussions that there is no question whatever of ignoring the vote of the Irish people or of bullying them. The Irish Government have set out clearly their respect for the right of other countries to complete their ratification process. We have discussed that at great length this afternoon in your Lordships’ House. The legal position is absolutely clear as a matter of international and EU law and it is not necessary for it to be reflected in an amendment to the Bill. For further clarification, noble Lords will be keen to hear that we understand that treaty preparations will no longer feature on the European Council agenda.