William Cash: The Minister for Europe has placed a letter in the House of Commons Library, which is addressed by the permanent representative of the UK representation to the EU to the secretary-general of the Council of the European Union, and raises the question of the legality of the treaty on stability, co-ordination and governance, which was signed on 30 January. It states that the United Kingdom

“must reserve our position on the proposed treaty and its use of the institutions”.

In the circumstances, and given that I and others have raised the fact that there are serious questions about the nature and lawfulness of that treaty, and given that the Government appear to share the concerns on that issue, will the Leader of the House agree to have a debate in Government time for at least three hours next week to discuss the nature and lawfulness of that treaty?

The European Parliament is the discharge authority. Each year it must close the financial year on the basis of the recommendation of the Council and the Statement of Assurance (DAS) provided by the Court of Auditors. By granting a discharge Parliament approves the implementation of the budget in respect of the relevant financial year. It is well known that the European Court of Auditors for the 17th year in a row has not signed the EU accounts, nevertheless, on 23 February, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, adopted a recommendation to the European Parliament on the discharge to be given to the Commission for implementation of the EU’s budget for 2010.

In order to address what was agreed at last October’s Euro Summit, the European Commission, in November 2011, put forward proposals to further deepening fiscal surveillance for euro area Member states. The European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation on common provisions for monitoring and assessing draft budgetary plans and ensuring the correction of excessive deficit of the Member states in the euro area and a proposal for a regulation on the strengthening of economic and budgetary surveillance of Member states experiencing or threatened with serious difficulties with respect to their financial stability in the euro area. The proposals are based on Article 136 which allows the Council to adopt specific measures to eurozone member states, in combination with Article 121(6) whereby “The European Parliament and the Council, … may adopt detailed rules for the multilateral surveillance procedure…” Both regulations would be directly applicable under the national law of member states whose currency is the euro. This is another step towards a fiscal union.

The Daily Mail reports: “Austerity measures imposed on Greece are so tough that it may need a third multi-billion-pound bailout, a leaked Brussels report said yesterday.” It reads "The ten-page document produced by the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund paints a bleak prospect of Greece’s chances of recovery." The article also notes that “The leak exposes the rank hypocrisy of the bailout deal, which many suspect is more about keeping the single currency afloat than saving Greece." Please read the article here.

The House of Commons debated, yesterday, the annual adjustment of the remuneration of EU staff. During the debate Bill Cash made the following interventions:

what assessment he has made of the circumstances in which the Government would decline to pay any further money to the EU in respect of any shortfall in the EU budget.

Last September the European Commission proposed a directive aimed at introducing a financial transaction tax in the EU. It is important to note that unanimity is required at the Council, and David Cameron has vowed to veto such damaging proposal. In fact, David Cameron and George Osborne are leading opposition to the Commission’s proposal. David Cameron has said to the House of Commons “On the financial transactions tax, I have been clear all along that we are not opposed in principle to such a tax if one could be agreed at the global level, but we will not unilaterally introduce a new financial transactions tax in the UK. Neither will we support its introduction in the European Union unless it is part of a global move.”

With the aim of strengthening economic governance in the EU, the European Parliament and the Council adopted last November the economic governance proposals, the so-called six-pack. This legislative package has entered into force in December 2011 and, consequently member states’ fiscal policies as well as macroeconomic policies and structural reforms are now subject to broader and enhanced surveillance. Member States are not only monitored for excessive deficits and debts, but also for imbalances and falling competitiveness. Although the UK is not subject to sanctions, some of the provisions on economic coordination and surveillance also apply to the UK, which is unacceptable.

In 2000 the EU leaders adopted the Lisbon Strategy aimed at transforming the EU by 2010 into “the world’s most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy.” The Lisbon strategy was a total failure and its targets, including employment and economic growth, were not met. However, Brussels carried on – setting up a new target date for 2020. The new EU's strategy for sustainable growth and jobs, the so-called Europe 2020, has already turned out to be another failure.

Derk Jan Eppink, vice president of the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament, wrote on the Euobserver “In these times of austerity when the EU Council, European Commission and the European Parliament are making efforts to cut costs, there are two EU bodies operating under the radar whose budgets have been increasing in an unchallenged way: the Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and the Committee of the Regions (CoR).”