§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, with reference to Protocol 5 of the Maastricht Treaty concerning budget deficits and the document known as the Stability Pact, he will list(a) the last published paper issued by Her Majesty's Government containing the text of the Protocol, (b) the Treaty Base of the Stability Pact and the date on which it was (i) first published and (ii) approved by the Ministerial Council, (c) when it was presented to Parliament, considered by a Committee of either House and reported upon, and (d) the debates held or Resolutions made in respect of the document in either House of Parliament. [151496]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe Protocol on the Excessive Deficit Procedure is annexed to the Treaty Establishing the European Community, as a result of the Treaty on European Union agreed at Maastricht on 9–10 December 1991. Royal Assent was given to the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993 on 20 July 1993, amending UK law, following its third and final reading in the House of Lords.
Detail on the legal bases used for the Stability and Growth Pact and background on the submission of the proposals for UK parliamentary scrutiny is contained in the comprehensive Explanatory Memorandum which covered them, submitted to Parliament by HM Treasury on 3 June 1997 (6946/97 and 6947/97).
The House of Commons Select Committee on European Legislation noted, in its Second Report of the 1997–98 Session, that the documents had been the subject of a full day's debate on the Floor of the House, and had cleared scrutiny by virtue of the Resolution come to at the end of that debate. I refer my hon. Friend to column 896 of the Official Report on 9 June 1997. The House of Lords Scrutiny Committee confirmed that these items had cleared scrutiny in their 11 June 1997 Progress of Scrutiny Report.
The draft Resolution was adopted by the Amsterdam European Council on 16 and 17 June 1997, which invited ECOFIN to adopt the two regulations.