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Section 5 of the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993

Indeed, I was here this time last year making a very similar, uncannily parallel speech, but I will point it out again. Underneath where it talks about Crown copyright, the ISBN number and where it says:"““Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre””," it reads:"““The Budget report, combined with the Office for Budget Responsibility's…fiscal outlook, constitutes the Government's assessment under section 5 of the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993””." That is relevant to today's debate. It is written in very small font for those who might have difficulty reading it. It mentions the European Communities (Amendment) Act, which sounds likely a very British piece of legislation, but, being eagle-eyed, hon. Members will have spotted that all that Act does is refer to the Maastricht treaty, article 2 of which states:"““The Community shall have as its task…a harmonious and balanced development of economic activities, sustainable and non-inflationary growth””." Of course, it also relates to article 103, which talks about economic policies being a ““matter of common concern”” that should be co-ordinated within the Council. These are the sorts of words that some find difficult to stomach, but the article continues:"““For the purpose of this multilateral surveillance, Member States shall forward information to the Commission about important measures taken by them in the field of their economic policy””." In a sense, the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr Redwood) was right to say that this is the homework that has been set by the European Commission, and we are completing our homework today.