European Council Documents: Scrutiny (Hansard, 30 January 1997)

§ Lord Inglewood
My Lords, in general, documents submitted to the European Council are already subject to the same parliamentary scrutiny procedures as those submitted to Council of Ministers meetings.
1247 However, the outcomes of European Council meetings are issued as conclusions of the presidency alone. The question of scrutiny reserves does not therefore arise.

Lord Bruce of Donington
I thank the noble Lord for that reply. Is he aware that even the proceedings leading up to the Council of Ministers meetings fail to meet the Government's and Parliament's requirements in regard to the time allowed for scrutiny? Is he further aware that, according to the Prime Minister himself, the procedures relating to the Council of Ministers do not apply to the European Council? Is it a fact that systematically information as to what has happened at the European Council is very late and does not enable the scrutiny committees to have any idea of the agreements that have been reached in the European Council until after those agreements have taken place? Does he believe that that is consistent with retaining the powers that the Government already possess to scrutinise properly European proposals for legislation?

§ Lord Inglewood
My Lords, there are three parts to the noble Lord's question. We recognise that mistakes have been made in the way in which documents have been made available to the scrutiny committee. We are unhappy about that. As the Lord President said in his letter to the chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee of another place on 26th October last, internal procedures have been tightened up. We are also encouraging more effective dissemination of documents from Europe, including by electronic means. We propose in the IGC a treaty change allowing a four-week period between issuing documents and Council decisions being taken.
Secondly, in the European Council, in the presidency conclusions, it is open to heads of government or heads of state to introduce the fact that things may be subject to scrutiny reserve, as was done in the case of the preparations for Stage 3 EMU in the conclusions to the Dublin Council.
Finally, the European Scrutiny Committee in another place is concerned about the point raised by the noble Lord in respect of the European Council conclusions. That is a matter which is being considered by the Procedure Committee of another place. The Government will comment when the findings and recommendations of the Procedure Committee are made available.

§ Lord Pearson of Rannoch
My Lords, my noble friend mentioned that the Government have tabled an amendment at the IGC to improve this matter. Can he give your Lordships any idea of the support that we anticipate in the IGC?

§ Lord Inglewood
My Lords, I understand that this is an idea which has been most favourably received.

Lord Bruce of Donington
My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that the same scrutiny committee to which he referred has raised this matter before? According to the committee's report, which I hold in my hand, the position has become worse rather than better over the 1248 past year. Will the Government please make representations—or are they submissions now?—to the European Commission that they should get a fax machine in operation so that we can have the documents here very much earlier rather than waiting for them to come, in our case, by ordinary Belgian post?

§ Lord Inglewood
My Lords, I fear that the noble Lord is a little old-fashioned. Our approach is to use electronic mail.

§ Lord Richard
My Lords, is the Minister aware that when Statements have been made in this House after European Council meetings—Statements which I have taken for the Opposition—I have continually said that people should read the communique and not merely rely on the Prime Ministerial gloss that is put upon it? Is he also aware that I do not have any difficulty whatever in obtaining a copy of the communique of a meeting which finished on the Sunday before I have to rise to speak in this House—usually on the Monday? Therefore, will he agree with me that perhaps the criticisms of my noble friend Lord Bruce of Donington—very uncharacteristically, my Lords—were perhaps somewhat overblown?

§ Lord Inglewood
My Lords, I am delighted to hear that at least in one respect the noble Lord finds things working most satisfactorily. I concur that it would appear to us that the strictures of the noble Lord, Lord Bruce, are a trifle—to use the noble Lord's word—overblown.

§ Lord Willoughby de Broke
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that far more than the communiques, to which the noble Lord, Lord Richard, referred are consistently late? The matter to which the noble Lord, Lord Bruce, referred is indeed a matter of concern. What assurance can my noble friend give that something will happen further than representations to the Commission or to the relevant authorities and we will get documents on time—I speak as a member of one of the committees—so that we can scrutinise them?

§ Lord Inglewood
My Lords, as I already mentioned, steps are being taken internally in government. As the Minister in my department who deals with a number of European matters, I can confirm that that is happening. At the same time, we are taking the other steps that I mentioned to ensure that those who are not under our direct control will deal with the matter more expeditiously.

§ Lord Tordoff
My Lords, is the Minister aware that, although what he said is accurate and successful efforts are being made to speed up the transmission of documents, there is still a serious delay in documents coming out of both the Commission and the Council before they reach this country? Further, is he aware that the recent documents on fishing quotas reached the Select Committee only two days before the Council that was due to agree them? Therefore, though matters are improving, is the Minister aware that there is still a long way to go?

§ Lord Inglewood
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Tordoff, for that helpful contribution. One of the advantages of dealing with these matters by electronic mail is that we can cut out the time it takes physically to communicate documents. That should, by the nature of that means of communication, infinitely improve matters.