Lisbon Treaty — Parliamentary control of decisions made at the European Union level — rejected — 4 Mar 2008 at 20:15

The majority No voters rejected an amendment^[1] to the European Union (Amendment) Bill.

In the European Union (EU) decisions about certain policy areas can only be made where there is unanimity (e.g. foreign policy, family law etc). In other policy areas decisions can be made through qualified majority voting (QMV). This means the EU could make a decision about some UK policy areas even if the UK objected. There is a mechanism within the EU wereby policy areas can move from being decided by unanimity to being decided by QMV (known as passerelle clauses).

The amendment voted on here would have obliged the government to vote against any measures that proposed moving policy areas from unanimity to QMV. In the Bill it says the government must not vote in favour of measures that moved policy areas from unanimity to QMV^[2]. However, the amendment was defeated.

David Heathcoat-Amory MP wanted this change in wording because he felt that as things stood the government:^[3]

• 'could abstain, and if they were to do so, the matter could be adopted, because matters can be approved by unanimity, even if some member states abstain. That is a loophole, and amendment No. 47 would require the Government actively to vote against any such proposal, rather than not voting in favour of it.'

However, Jim Murphy MP argued that the amendment was unnecessary:^[4]

• 'The words 'may not vote in favour' relate to when the European Council votes on an issue, based on unanimity. The words "otherwise support" relate to when the Council seeks to come to a decision by consensus. That relates to not being able to abstain when there is an attempt to reach a decision based on consensus. If the European Council sought to come to a decision based on consensus, the provision in clause 6 would mean that we would have to vote to break that consensus by not abstaining. That is the important protection contained in clause 6(1).'

The European Union (Amendment) Bill implements the Lisbon Treaty into UK law. The main aims of the Lisbon Treaty were to^[5]:

• Streamline EU institutions
• Establish a permanent President of the European Council (as of 16 March 2010 held by Herman Van Rompuy)
• Establish the post of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (as of 16 March 2010 held by Catherine Ashton)
• Give new powers to the EU over justice and home affairs
• Remove the national veto in some areas such as energy security and emergency aid

----

• [1] David Heathcoat-Amory MP, House of Commons, 4 March 2008
• [2] European Union (Amendment) Bill, Clause 6
• [3] David Heathcoat-Amory MP, House of Commons, 4 March 2008
• [4] Jim Murphy MP, House of Commons, 4 March 2008
• [5] BBC News Q&A: The Lisbon Treaty, 5 February 2010

Debate in Parliament | Source |