[ARTICLE 58]

SINGLE MARKET:

LISBON TREATY COULD REMOVE UK VOTE= ON

A CRUCIAL MATTER OF COMMON ECONOMIC POLICY

[ARTICLE 99]

AMENDMENT TO: Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and t= he Treaty establishing the European Community (Lisbon, 13 December 2007)<= /span>

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Policy Area:

Treaty= on the Functioning of the European Union, Part Three Policies and Internal Act= ions of the Union, Title III – Free movement of persons, services and capi= tal, Chapter 4 – Capital and payments, Article 99

Amendment:<= /o:p>

Clause 2,&n= bsp; page 1, line 12, after ‘excluding’, insert—

‘(i) Article 2, paragraph 85, inserted Article 97b TEC (TFEU), relating to the single curre= ncy, and paragraph 86, amendments to Article 99 TEC (TFEU) relating to broad economic guidelines; and

(ii)’.

Amendment:<= /o:p>

Clause 2,&n= bsp; page 1, line 12, after ‘excluding’, insert—

‘(i) Article 2, paragraphs 88 to 110, amendments and new Articles TEC (TFEU) relating to economic and monetary policy; and<= o:p>

(ii)’.

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<= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Lisb= on Treaty: =

“86) Article 99 shall be amended as follows:

(a) in paragraph 4, the first sentence of the first subparagraph shall be replaced by the following two sentences:

‘Where it is established, under the procedure refe= rred to in paragraph 3, that the economic policies of a Member State are not consistent with the broad guidelines referred to in paragraph 2 or that they risk jeopardising the proper functioning of eco= nomic and monetary union, the Commission may address a warning to the Member State concerned.

The Council, on a recommendation from the Commission, may address the necessary recommendations to the Member State concerned.’;<= /o:p>

(b) the second subparagraph of paragraph 4 shall become paragraph 5 and the current paragraph 5 shall be renumbered 6;

‘Within the scope of this paragraph, the Council s= hall act without taking into account the vote of the member of the Council representing the Member State concerned.<= /o:p>

A qualified majority of the other members of the Council shall be defined in accordance with Article 205(3)(a).’;

(d) in paragraph 5, renumbered 6, the words ‘The Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 252, may adopt detailed rules’ shall be replaced by the following: ‘= The European Parliament and the Council, acting by means of regulations in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, may adopt detailed rules’, the words ‘of this Article’ shall be deleted.R= 21;

Consolidated Treaty Article(s):

“Article 99

1. Member States shall regard their economic policies as= a matter of common concern and shall coordinate them within t= he Council, in accordance with the provisions of Article 98.

2. The Council shall, acting by a qualified majority on a recommendation from the Commission, formulate a draft for the broad guideli= nes of the economic policies of the Member States and of the Community, and sha= ll report its findings to the European Council.

The European Council shall, acting on the basis of the report from the Council, discuss a conclusion on the broad guidelines of the economic policies of the Member States and of the Community.

On the basis of this conclusion, the Council shall, acti= ng by a qualified majority, adopt a recommendation setting out these broad guidelines. The Council shall inform the European Parliament of its recommendation.<= /o:p>

3. In order to ensure closer coordination of economic policies and sustained convergence of the economic performances of the Memb= er States, the Council shall, on the basis of reports submitted by the Commiss= ion, monitor economic developments in each of the Member States and in the Commu= nity as well as the consistency of economic policies with the broad guidelines referred to in paragraph 2, and regularly carry out an overall assessment.<= /span>

For the purpose of this multilateral surveillance, Member States shall forward information to the Commission about important measures taken by them in the field of their economic policy and such other informat= ion as they deem necessary.

4. Where it is established, under the procedure referred= to in paragraph 3, that the economic policies of a Member State are not consis= tent with the broad guidelines referred to in paragraph 2 or that they risk jeopardising the proper functioning of economic and monetary union, the Council may, acting by a qualified majority on a recommendation from the Commission, make the necessary recommendations to t= he Member State concerned. The Council may, acting by a qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission, decide to make its recommendations public.

The President of the Council and the Commission shall re= port to the European Parliament on the results of multilateral surveillance. The President of the Council may be invited to appear before the competent committee of the European Parliament if the Council has made its recommendations public.

5. The Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 252, may adopt detailed rules for the multilateral surveillance procedure referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article.”<= /o:p>

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Expl= anation:

Article 99 is amended by = Lisbon, crucially = removing the state’s own vote on a matter of common economic policy. This Arti= cle deals with common economic policy and commits the Member States to “regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern”. Guidelines are laid down by the Council for this and a system set up for reporting on adherence to them. In the earlier version, a state which is de= emed not to be following these guidelines, or jeopardising<= /span> the proper functioning of the Economic and Monetary Union was to receive “the necessary recommendations”: Lisbon changes this and adds the possibility that “a warning= ” may be issued instead. Crucia= lly, it also removes the state’s own vote on the matter.

The troubling new version reads that where it is established that the economic policy of a Member State are not consist= ent with the broad guidelines or jeopardise the pro= per functioning of economic and monetary union, “the Commission may address a warning to the Member State concerned.”

The Council may then address the necessary recommendations to the Member&nb= sp;State concerned in which “the Council sha= ll act without taking into account the vote of the member of the Council represent= ing the Member State concerned.” This clear= ly does not appear to be in Britain’s national interest. In addition to these changes, the European Parliament is given power to change the rules f= or this multilateral surveillance procedure, which previously was held only by= the Council.