It is astonishing to think that the ratification of the Lisbon treaty has been rammed through 27 national parliaments, including in the UK, with very serious questions over legality. That is not my opinion. That is the view of the UK Parliament’s own European Scrutiny Committee.
I had already written briefly before how the European Scrutiny Committee questioned David Miliband over the legality of the Irish guarantees on 2nd July.
The Committee then sent him a straightforward letter on 21st July over specific legal claims, asking him to answer several questions on the legal validity of the Irish guarantees in relation to the Lisbon Treaty. View this page and this one.
Miliband then sent an awful and apologetic letter on 13th October, which failed to address any of the issues seriously (notice it was issued after the Irish referendum and almost 3 months late).
I now see that the Chairman (Labour) and the rest of the Committee are still astonished by his reply and have sent another letter on 21st October to continue their questions over legality. View this page and this one .
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Why is this important? Well, it affects ever Member State of the European Union who has ratified this treaty. It also looks more than likely that the opt-out of the Charter of Fundamental Rights for the Czechs, clearly by a European Council Decision, will have all the same legal problems as the Irish guarantees also made by a similar Decision.
For our purposes, David Miliband has not answered it properly. The new Europe Minster, Chris Bryant definitely could not answer it on Wednesday evening when the Committee took evidence from him. When it was put to Chris Bryant, that the Irish Decision entails new obligations of the Member States towards Ireland and could he explain how these new obligations can have any effect within the Member States’ national legal systems without ratification being required, he was stumped. When asked could he explain how the Decision could have effect in UK law if it is not incorporated in the list of Treaties under the European Communities Act, or unless it is an Act adopted under those Treaties, he seemed puzzled.
There will be more to come on this internal battle …
