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. The main intention of the amendment was to ensure that ministers would have to secure parliamentary approval for their negotiating position at European Union (EU) meetings. In addition, ministers could not vote in favour of regulations that would affect public services like the NHS or schools unless they had secured parliamentary approval.

Some Tories moved the amendment because they were concerned that the Treaty of Lisbon enabled the European Union (EU) to take on more and more powers without having to ask national governments or its citizens.^[2] They drew attention to the passerelle clauses which enables the EU to make policy decisions through qualified majority voting (QMV) rather than unanimity. This means, in practice, the EU could make policy decisions for the UK in some areas even if the UK objected.

However, the government argued that parliament would still have a say over policy areas which moved from unanimity to QMV.^[3]

The European Union (Amendment) Bill implements the Lisbon Treaty into UK law. The main aims of the Lisbon Treaty were to^[4]:

• 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

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

Debate in Parliament | Source |