I concur with the Minister in viewing this as not just a political question but one with profound moral implications. We the people of this country, who have gained so much from European ideals and benefited enormously in economic, social and cultural terms since 1973, must ask ourselves if we want to afford the same opportunity to the 12 applicant countries, particularly those from the former Soviet bloc. Tens of millions of people, who lived behind the Iron Curtain where repression, fear and a lack of basic human rights comprised the staple daily diet, now have the opportunity of a new beginning in the broader European home. Our choice in a few weeks' time will decide whether or not these people will have the chance of a better future, which is essentially the question at the centre of the treaty. It would not just be bad politics but mean spirited, narrow minded, insular and politically immoral for us not to give the applicant countries the chance we were given in 1973.