§ 12.26 p.m.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton) rose to move, That the draft order laid before the House on 20th November be approved [32nd Report from the Joint Committee].
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, this order enables the United Kingdom to press ahead with ratification of an agreement with Switzerland on the free movement of people. The agreement is one of seven bilateral agreements between the EU member states and Switzerland which are the culmination of several years of careful negotiation.
§ The agreements will lead to an approximation between Switzerland and the member states of the EU which will be of benefit to us all. The individual agreements are concerned with air transport, land transport, trade in agricultural products, elimination of technical barriers to trade, public procurement, research in science and technology, and free movement of people.
1089§ It is the latter agreement which concerns us today. This agreement is the only one of the seven agreements which requires individual ratification by each member state. The ratification process is necessary because the agreement combines Community and national competence.
§ The free movement of persons agreement was laid before Parliament as a treaty earlier this month. The draft Order in Council is the next significant step in the process. The order provides for the implementation of the agreement by specifying it as a Community treaty under the European Communities Act 1972.
§ The United Kingdom hopes to show its commitment to those agreements by early ratification. All seven agreements will come into force simultaneously once ratification of the free movement of persons agreement has been completed in all member states. So far as we know, only Austria and Switzerland are ahead of the United Kingdom in completing their ratification procedures.
§ Switzerland is a member of the European Free Trade Association—EFTA. It is not a member of the European Economic Area. Switzerland voted against joining the EEA in 1992. Instead, the Swiss have chosen to negotiate a series of bilateral agreements with the EU, including the free movements of persons agreement. That agreement was approved by the Swiss in a referendum earlier in the year.
§ The free movement of persons agreement will enable nationals of all contracting party countries to benefit from equal rights in relation to free movement in all the other contracting party countries. It extends the benefits of the single market to Switzerland and allows EU member states to benefit from the contribution which Switzerland can make to the single market.
§ Once the agreement is in force, nationals of contracting party countries and members of their families, regardless of their nationality, will have a right in the territory of all contracting party countries to enter, reside, work, provide services and set up as self-employed persons.
§ Nationals of each contracting party country will have equal living, employment and working conditions in all the countries concerned. For Swiss nationals, that will enable them to exercise the free movement rights accorded by the agreement in the United Kingdom. That includes the use of the EEA/ EU channel at UK immigration controls.
§ We are pleased to be taking forward the ratification of this agreement. It will build on the excellent existing bilateral relationship between Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Switzerland is the UK's largest export market and our third largest market outside the EU. Switzerland invests more money in the United Kingdom than any other EU country. Swiss companies employ some 100,000 people in the UK. President Ogi has visited the UK twice this year, furthering these good relations and the Prince of Wales paid a successful official visit to Switzerland earlier this month.
1090§ We are keen to ratify the free movement of persons agreement as soon as possible in order to help maintain good relations with our EU partners and Switzerland. I am grateful to the House for its early consideration of this order. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the draft order laid before the House on 20th November be approved [32nd Report from the Joint Committee].—(Lord Bassam of Brighton.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.