Like lemmings over a cliff, the House Of Keys unanimously gave
the European Communities (Amendment) Bill a third reading last
week. This Bill transfers the power of the Governor in Council
to make orders under the European Communities Act 1973 to the
Council of Ministers.
Transport Minister Tony Brown, who presented the bill, explained
that the aim was to allow the Council of Ministers to make orders
applying European law to the Island. The measure has been presented
as a means of speeding up the application of sanctions against
'controversial regimes', since it will be quicker for the Council
of Ministers to act than for the Governor in Council.
Quicker, maybe, but more democratic? The constitutional position here is murky in the extreme. The Isle of Man is said not to be a part of the EU, other than for the single market and for VAT, which it elected to apply when the UK adopted it. However, in formal terms the UK retains responsibility for external relations, and legally this would seem to allow it to impose the EU's external actions on the island unilaterally; and this is just what seems to be happening.
The UK long ago lost its ability to oppose EU law in most areas, as Parliament has found out to its cost, and now the same seems to be happening on Man. The Governor in Council is no rubber stamp: it is the upper house of the Manx Parliament, and like the House of Lords in the UK has to be understood as a constitutional buffer against wrong-headed or anti-democratic behaviour on the part of a lower house which may be in the hands of an unscrupulous administration.
No-one is suggesting that this Council of Ministers is wrong-headed or unscrupulous; quite the contrary. But it is no advance for Manxmen that the Council has now arrogated to itself the power to impose EU law on the island, which it is only too likely to use as a rubber stamp when pressured by the UK/EU establishment. The comforting words of the Minister that 'sanctions would be able to be applied immediately and laid before Tynwald as soon as possible after they were announced' merely conceal the reality that power has been taken away from the elected Parliament.
Apart from the danger (well, the certainty) that the new law will be used to impose unwelcome EU laws on the island at the behest of the supine UK government, there is also the question of why it is that the Isle of Man needs to be able to impose EU 'sanctions' on controversial regimes. Is the island going to take part in a blockade of Iraq? Presumably, what's intended is for the Government to be able to stop banks and trading companies on the island from breaking sanctions against Milosevic, for instance. But if the island is as sovereign as it claims, why can't it make its own decisions about sanctions?
It's also worth remembering that in Paris at the OECD the Isle of Man itself is viewed as being a controversial regime, along with all the other tax havens that threaten big-country tax collection. What happens when the EU wants to impose sanctions on the Cayman Islands for having too many banks? Will the Isle of Man be going along for the ride?
Perhaps this measure is part of the price the island has to pay for escaping the OECD's blacklist. What a shame, anyway.
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