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EU: Codecision (EUC Report)

My Lords, it was a privilege to serve on the committee which worked on this report. I express my particular appreciation to the noble Lord, Lord Roper, for the way in which he introduced this report this afternoon and to his colleagues, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mance, and the noble Lord, Lord Sewel, for participating in chairing the committee. This report is very timely, the more so because of the coming into effect of the Lisbon treaty; it had not been finally ratified when the committee was considering matters of codecision, now described as an ordinary legislative procedure. It is not simply a change of name; it is a considerable extension of the democratic process of deliberation at the European level, involving as it does justice and home affairs issues. Consequently, it is of great importance that national parliaments consider how they will seek to influence the particular direction of legislation. At this stage there is perhaps no need to reiterate precisely the recommendations made by the committee but it is appropriate to thank the Government for their positive response to so many of the committee’s requests. I refer to updating the committees every time there is a policy change, bearing in mind the point of the noble Lord, Lord Bowness, that the detail is as important as the general direction of the change. It is also helpful to know that the presidency compromise texts will be made available, as will any amendments contemplated by the Government. I heard the legal adviser to the Council indicating that there was no objection to limité documents being circulated. I hope that we can speed up the process within government and that perhaps that will be recognised at the end of this debate. It is unduly cautious to withhold information which is listed on websites by other national parliaments. Perhaps the most difficult issue which the committee unearthed was how to extend the impact of its thinking on legislation to other national parliaments and to the European Parliament. There are obvious complexities in that, with 26 other national parliaments to be considered and multiple committees. The bureaucratic or institutional complexities of exchanging such information could be quite considerable. I would not propose that we get too bogged down in that. The onus seems to lie firmly with the European Parliament to come up with suggestions about timing and when it would like to hear from national parliaments. Otherwise, we can rest on our laurels and recognise that the reports of the committee and its sub-committees are valued and widely perceived at the European level to be helpful, constructive and direction-oriented. It also seems to me that the European Parliament has at least as much interest as this House in being made aware of internal debates in a transparent fashion. In the consideration of the constitutional settlement at the European level, a lot of attention was paid to the importance of the Council’s proceedings, when it acts in a legislative capacity, being as transparent and open as possible. If the trialogue process which has been developed, and on which there seems to be a greater reliance, is not to be opened up, it has at least to be conducted in such a way as to allow time for consideration of the arguments being put forward. The European Parliament’s interests cannot be fully or adequately represented merely by the presence of a rapporteur at such a gathering. I hope that the European Parliament will as speedily as possible address the staging of the legislative process, focusing sharply on the trialogue. There would normally be advantage in there being a staged process, with a certain amount of time being preallocated to each reading and each stage, so that national parliaments throughout the European Union are aware of what is happening and what should happen. Sometimes there will be an urgent need to move rapidly but, more often than not, European legislation is not a response to an emergency but a deliberative process which seeks to improve the law across the whole Union.