----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Arthurs" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 7:04 PM
Subject: LORDS REPORT DESTROYS EUROPE MYTHS
North West in Europe
Date: 29 October 2003
LORDS REPORT DESTROYS EUROPE MYTHS
The draft EU Constitutional Treaty does not create a European superstate, a
committee of eminent Peers made clear today.
The report from the House of Lords European Affairs Standing Committee puts
to the sword many of the major myths about the draft Constitutional Treaty
promoted by anti-Europeans. The report makes clear that:
The EU will not become a superstate: the draft makes plain the
intention that the European Union remains a union of sovereign Member
States.
The powers of the EU flow from member states: the draft Treaty
expressly states that the Union can only act within the limits of the
competences which the Member States have conferred upon it.
There is nothing new in the idea that EU law has primacy over UK
law this has been the case since we joined in 1972.
There will be no tax harmonization: The draft Treaty does not
propose to extend QMV to matters of tax or social security.
The proposals to give more power to national Parliaments help to
confirm that the European Union is a union of Member States.
The extension of EU law in this Treaty seems relatively limited
and we repeat our earlier conclusion that it is clear that the balance of
power is going to shift from the Commission to the Member States.
Gary Arthurs, Regional Director of North West in Europe said:
The debate about the draft EU constitutional treaty has so far been clouded
by a fog of lies, scares and distortions by anti-European politicians and
newspapers. This report is an authoritative rebuttal to the idea that the
Treaty will create a superstate. In fact, as the Committee says, it will
shift the balance of power in Europe towards the member states.
The Committee is also right to urge the Government to do more to argue the
case for the new EU rulebook. There is a positive case to be made and we all
need to do more to make it.
A digest of key quotes from the report, The Future of Europe the
Convention's draft Constitutional Treaty, House of Lords Select Committee on
the European Union, published today, is set out below.
For further information, please contact Gary Arthurs on 0161 773 8448 or
07802 551634
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KEY QUOTES FROM THE LORDS REPORT
The committee concludes that the EU constitutional treaty will not create a
European superstate.
We welcome the removal of the phrase "ever closer Union". (paragraph 320)
The draft Treaty expressly states that the Union can only act within the
limits of the competences which the Member States have conferred upon it
(Article I-9(2)). We support this approach because the draft Treaty makes
plain the intention that the European Union remains a union of sovereign
Member States. (paragraph 321)
Overall, however, the draft Treaty's definition of the EU clearly sets out
for the citizen what the EU is. (paragraph 323)
The use of Union competence is expressly stated to be governed by the
principles of subsidiarity and proportionality (paragraph 326)
The draft Treaty does not propose to extend QMV to matters of tax or social
security (paragraph 339)
It is clear that the draft Treaty will not alter the way the economies of
the EU will work (paragraph 340)
The revisions to QMV are clearly designed to enhance the efficiency of the
Union (paragraph 341)
Although we have previously pressed for a red card, we accept that the
subsidiarity mechanism as it stands in the Protocol to the draft Treaty is
intended to strengthen democracy in the EU (paragraph 342)
Overall, we consider that a subsidiarity mechanism with these additional
features would indeed represent an important development of democracy in the
Union and, by clearly stating and enhancing the role of national parliaments
in helping to ensure that the Commission does not act when it should not do
so, would help to confirm that the European Union is a union of Member
States (paragraph 349)
There are clearly a number of ways in which the European Union will not be
a state, let alone a "superstate" (whatever that means), if these provisions
are agreed. Under the draft Treaty, the Union cannot do a number of things a
state can do, such as raise taxes, run a budget deficit or autonomously
raise a military force. In addition the Union can only act on competences
conferred on it by its Member States, while Article 1(5) strengthens
identities of Member States and 1(9) their independence. Member States
remain masters of constitutional change (by Treaty revision) and, for the
first time, there is express provision for a Member State to leave the Union
(paragraph 132)
A considerable range of matters have already become subject to EU law in
earlier Treaties. The extension of EU law in this Treaty seems relatively
limited by comparison and we repeat our earlier conclusion that it is clear
that the balance of power is going to shift from the Commission to the
Member States (paragraph 353). There is considerable re-assurance in the
draft Treaty for those who fear that the EU is becoming too like a state. We
will be examining more closely in a further report whether there is a need
to clarify the language of Article 10 of the draft Treaty about the primacy
of EU law which has existed since 1964 and was, according to the White Paper
(page 30), a key condition for UK membership of the EU (paragraph 135).
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