HL Deb 06 December 1977 vol 387 cc1465-71

2.57 p.m.

Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS

My Lords, I beg to move that the draft European Communities (Definition of Treaties) (No. 5) Order 1977, laid before the House on 10th November, be approved. Your Lordships will recall that recently in this House we debated the No. 3 and No. 4 orders. During that debate your Lordships expressed appreciation for the Government's response to the difficulties which the presentation of previous orders had caused this House. The same amended procedure has been followed in regard to today's two orders, the first of which I now move, and I hope that on this occasion also the enlarged facilities for understanding the purport of this order will be similarly appreciated by us all.

Perhaps I may add detail to the information which is given in the memorandum concerning the order. In paragraph 9 the Government give their opinion of those provisions of the Treaties contained in the order which they believe may be directly applicable in the United Kingdom. In that paragraph there is no reference to any provisions of the agreement amending the Internal Agreement on the Financing and Administration of Community Aid as the Government are of the opinion that there are no provisions which might be so held. That is the explanation of that apparent deficiency. I should explain that, as usual, the agreement is being specified as a Community Treaty because Articles 1 and 2 of that agreement amend the original Internal Agreement on the Financing and Administration of Community Aid signed on the 11th July 1975, which was itself specified as a Community Treaty in the No. 2 order 1975.

I shall now look briefly at the wider framework into which these agreements fit. The first three agreements on the Schedule to the order deal with the accession to the Convention of Lomé by the Democratic Republic of Sao Tomé Principe—and I hope I have pronounced it correctly; my Portuguese is not what it ought to be—Papua New Guinea and the Republic of Cape Verde. The fourth agreement amends the Internal Agreement on the Financing and Administration of Community Aid signed on 11th July 1975. The amending agreement was necessary as a result of the signature of the accession agreements so that the newly acceding States could receive the same benefits as the original 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific members. We are bringing into line with the original 46, the three States mentioned in the Agreement.

None of the 3 acceding countries was a colony of an existing Member State. Sao Tomé Principe and Cape Verde were administered by Portugal until the Portuguese revolution in April 1974. All three territories became independent in 1975. I am sure your Lordships will recall that during our debate on the protocols between the EEC and Portugal, reference was made from both sides of the House to the historic relationship between the United Kingdom and Portugal. It is therefore particularly appropriate that we are able, through our membership of the EEC, to contribute to the development of former Portuguese territories.

Papua, the third new State, was an Australian colony and New Guinea an Australian-administered League of Nations and United Nations Trust Treaty since 1921—that is, between the League and the United Nations; that was the status of New Guinea. The two were jointly administered by Australia after 1949. The new territory of Papua New Guinea similarly became independent in 1975, like the two Portuguese territories, now States, that I mentioned. On gaining their independence the three States acceded to the Lomé Convention, as it was agreed by both the EEC and the ACP together that their economic structure was comparable to those of the other ACP Members. The first joint ACP/EEC Council of 14th/15th July, 1976, gave approval in principle to the new accessions. This is the constitutional basis for the order.

Under the terms of the agreements, the aid, trade and other provisions of the Lomé Convention will be available to the three States. Having recently become independent, the three countries are at a crucial stage in their development and should find this assistance most opportune. Your Lordships will agree with me when I say that the concept of the Lomé Convention is of a new relationship between the developed and developing countries. The relationship is intended to reflect the spirit of equality and does not envisage a protector/client relationship. The Convention has been in existence for only two years, but I think that I can already say that the aims of those who established the Convention have to a large extent been met.

Through its membership of the Community, the United Kingdom will be brought into a closer association with these three States which have so recently become independent. I hope that their experiences in the context of the Lomé Convention will show that the North-South dialogue can, in practice, realise the hopes of both sides and should bring tangible benefits to all signatories of the Convention.

Moved, That the draft European Communities (Definition of Treaties) (No. 5) Order 1977, laid before the House on 10th November, be approved.—(Lord Goronwy-Roberts).

3.5 p.m.

Baroness ELLES

My Lords, on behalf of my noble friends, I should like to thank warmly the noble Lord, Lord Goronwy-Roberts, for introducing this draft order to the House and for his explanation of the constitutional and legal significance of the agreements referred to in the Schedule. I should like to confirm once again the usefulness of the new form of Explanatory Memorandum and I am sure, from what the Minister has said, that we can expect to have such full Explanatory Memoranda in the future when we have to debate these Definition of Treaties orders. They certainly contribute very much to the easier and quicker understanding of the documents that we have to read.

With regard to the accession of the three States to the Lomé Convention, we on this side endorse absolutely everything that the noble Lord has said. We are very much aware of the great significance and importance that the Lomé Convention plays in international relations, particularly between the European Communities and the developing countries. The fact of having 52 independent sovereign States each enjoying the same rights and obligations in regard to the European Communities is, I think, one further example of the very great achievement of the European Communities' negotiators in their external relations. This view cannot be emphasised too much, for we so often hear the Community attacked; we hear that it is an inward-looking organisation. But the Lomé Convention alone and these additional three members are proof that it is simply not so, but that it is an outward-looking organisation and it puts the benefits of its achievements and industrial wealth at the service of very large areas of the world.

These agreements take some time to negotiate, but it is inderstood that the Commission and the European Investment Bank have already started preparatory work so as to be able to proceed with the financial provisions as soon as the agreements are ratified. Consequent upon the accession of these three Member States to the Convention, as well as the accession of three former countries who joined comparatively recently, it has been necessary to make adjustments to the financial provisions for the implementation of the Convention; because, as I understand it, under Articles 89 and 90 of the Lomé Convention, no country shall be put at a financial disadvantage because of new accessions. It is, therefore, understood that the agreement provides for the necessary adjustment whereby the amount of aid for ACP States is increased and additional contributions provided for by Member States. In the case of the United Kingdom, I understand that it is 1.7 million EUA.

The following article in the agreement sets out the method of distribution of the total amount disposable, and perhaps the Minister will confirm—and I regret that I did not notify him earlier of this question—that these sums will have been approved by the Community budget and do not affect any national Parliamentary decision. This may account for the omission from the Explanatory Memorandum of the applicability of these agreements.

I should like to say, in particular, that not only do we welcome these accessions but we welcome Papua New Guinea, a comparatively new Member of the Commonwealth; and under the Lomé Convention from the benefits it will get, it will hope to modernise and expand its agriculture and become more self-sufficient in food supplies. This is a great opportunity for Papua New Guinea to embark upon considerable enlargement and development of the whole of its economy and, as a former territory which was connected to Australia, we warmly welcome this. From this side of the House, I should like only to say that we wish a very long and successful co-operation between these three States and the European Communities within the Lomé Convention. I beg to suggest that on this side of the House we approve the order before your Lordships.

3.9 p.m.

Lord HALE

My Lords, before my noble friend rises, may I say a word or two? I am happy to have heard what the noble Baroness has just said about the people of New Guinea, a new Member of the Commonwealth and at the moment apparently embarking upon what looks like a much more promising life. Papua New Guinea have not only enjoyed the various Governments to which the noble Baroness referred; they have enjoyed the privilege of being governed respectively by Portugal, Spain, Japan, Australia and part has been a British protectorate for a very long time. There has been a military Government, a civilian Government and almost every type of resource that Western civilisation provides. They still have a substantial trade balance in their favour and their currency appears to be able to look quite a few other currencies in the face.

I want to ask a question about Cape Verde. It was formerly united with Guinea-Bissau, and on the Portuguese grant of independence each of those two countries adopted a constitution which asserted in formal forms their intention for union with Guinea-Bissau. I cannot remember whether Guinea-Bissau—and I apologise for this—is part of the Lomé Convention or the Yaoundé Convention. I think it is part of the Yaoundé Convention. That brings me to my real point. We are getting to the stage when those of us who do not profess any knowledge or learning of these matters are finding an intense confusion in the various categories of alliances which have been made. I welcome every word that the noble Lord has said; but we had the Yaoundé Convention, the Arusha Convention with the East African States; we had special arrangements before the British accession with the Mediterranean States.

We will be referring in a moment to the Treaty with Greece of 1961 which apparently contained a firm promise for future accession long before we joined. This raises other problems. Although out of order, I can say this in half a sentence—and I shall not have to rise again—that quite frankly it raises the basic problem of the EEC as to what happens when a democratic country ceases to be democratic. In this case we are very happy to welcome the Greek reassertion of democracy and the defeat of the colonels. But what happens if a full member of the EEC ceases to be a democracy? There appear to be no entrenched clauses whatever to deal with that. However, having I hope called attention to the complexity in my mind, I am sure that the clarity of the mind of the noble Lord will be able to do something to administer a temporary remedy.

3.3 p.m.

Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS

My Lords, I should like to thank the noble Baroness for her most felicitous speech in welcoming this order. She put two or three specific points to me and think that I can be helpful here. She is right, of course, in saying that the sums to meet the charges arising from new accessions to the Lomé provisions have been approved by the European Parliament and she is equally right that they are borne on the European Development Fund—the EDF—as increased by amending agreements to the internal financing agreement of 1975 to which I referred. Once more, she is right in suggesting that the United Kingdom's share of the additional amounts of aid agreed to accommodate the three newly-acceding States in the Convention is £1.637 million sterling.

Baroness ELLES

My Lords, is it £1.7 million sterling or 1.7 million EUA?

Lord GORONWY-ROBERTS

My Lords, it is 1.77 MUA. It is slightly less but more attractive when said as £1.637 million sterling, I am sure the noble Baroness will agree. The computation of Member States' shares was based, as the noble Baroness knows, upon the original Lomé key as agreed on 21st April 1975, when the United Kingdom share was, I confirm, 18.7 per cent. of the whole.

I welcome the reference of the noble Baroness once more to the improved method of explaining the purport of these frequently very complicated orders by means of the expanded Explanatory Memorandum. This is the best means that we have been able to find and it had the total concurrence of Her Majesty's Opposition when we decided to do it. So far, it has proved helpful once more in regard to Order No. 5. When we move to consider European Order No. 6 I think it will also be found to be helpful.

May I say how much I welcomed the contribution of my noble friend Lord Hale to this short debate. He referred to the position regarding membership of the EEC and when a country ceases, and has so far ceased, to be a democracy. Prospective new entrants so far—very hopefully—have become new democracies or are old democracies revived. I cannot say that there is any formal provision for dealing with this very large question, but my noble friend is absolutely right to raise it. It should engage our very careful consideration. I shall take that point with me to higher levels with the suggestion that careful thought should be given to it. I thank my noble friend for raising it.

On Question, Motion agreed to.