Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I move:

That, pursuant to Standing Order 131, it be an instruction to the Select Committee on European Union Affairs that it has power to make provision in the European Communities (Amendment) Bill 2012 to amend the European Communities Act 1972 to include in the definition of 'treaties governing the European Union' the Treaty concerning the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union, done at Brussels on the 9th day of December 2011, and the Protocol on the concerns of the Irish people on the Treaty of Lisbon, annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, done at Brussels on the 16th day of May 2012."

This motion is of an entirely procedural nature and it arises pursuant to Standing Orders. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade indicated clearly in his opening statement on Second Stage of the European Communities (Amendment) Bill 2012 on 6 June that it was the Government's intention to move amendments on Committee Stage to add the Treaty of Accession of Croatia and the protocol on the concerns of the Irish people on the Treaty of Lisbon to the measures to be included by the Bill in the domestic law of the State. Standing Orders require the House to give the necessary instruction before the Select Committee on European Union Affairs is able to consider these amendments. That is the purpose of the motion.

In amending the European Communities Act of 1972, the European Communities (Amendment) Bill 2012 provides a means of incorporating a number of developments at European Union level into the domestic law of the State. The first element is a protocol amending the protocol on transitional provisions annexed to the Treaty on European Union, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community. The purpose of this protocol is to raise on a temporary basis the number of Members of the European Parliament during the current Parliament's term of 2009-14. This reflects the increased number of MEPs to which 12 member states are entitled under the Treaty of Lisbon in a Parliament elected before that treaty entered into force.

The second element is the European Council decision amending article 136 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union with regard to a stability mechanism for member states whose currency is the euro. This will provide a legal underpinning to the European Stability Mechanism, which is to enter into force next month. It is for that reason that the European Communities (Amendment) Bill 2012 was published on 8 May in tandem with the European Stability Mechanism Bill 2012. The Government wanted to ensure that the people had the full picture available to them, including this Bill, when they came to vote in the referendum on the stability treaty on 31 May. At the time of publication of the Bill on 8 May, the protocol on the concerns of the Irish people on the Treaty of Lisbon had not yet been signed. This was done in Brussels on 16 May. When EU leaders agreed the terms of the protocol at the European Council meeting of 18 and 19 June 2009 they also agreed that at the time of the conclusion of the next accession treaty the provisions of the decision on the concerns of the Irish people on the Treaty of Lisbon would be set out in a protocol to be attached to the EU treaties. The protocol is thus linked in time to the Croatian accession treaty.

The Government proposes to bring forward amendments to include the Irish legal guarantees protocol and the Croatian accession treaty in the current Bill so as to include both in the definition of the treaties governing the EU as set out in the European Communities Act. The effect of the proposed amendments will be to provide in the domestic law of the State for the accession of Croatia as the 28th member of the European Union, which the Government warmly welcomes, and for the protocol on the concerns of the Irish people on the Treaty of Lisbon. The latter is also warmly welcomed as a clear reflection of the EU delivering on its promise to the Irish people. I commend the motion to the House.

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