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The Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomed the publication of the second set of reports in the Review of the Balance of Competences: "The reports were produced after extensive consultation with a wide range of organisations with direct experience of the impact of the UK’s membership of the EU. They draw on over 600 pieces of written evidence from contributors including businesses, trade associations, think-tanks, civil society groups and professional membership associations. Local government, parliamentary committees, Members of the European Parliament, international partners and organisations, and representatives from the Devolved Administrations and the Crown Dependencies also contributed."
Another 18 reports are due to be issued between now and the end of 2014. The third semester reports are due to be published this summer and calls for evidence for the fourth set of reports will be launched this spring.
According to the Financial Times (subscription), the reports conclude that the balance of powers between Westminster and Brussels in key policy areas is broadly correct. The eight Whitehall studies find that Britain’s EU membership has bolstered trade, created wealth and brought benefits in areas from legal co-operation to the growth of football’s Premier League – not the answers eurosceptics want to hear.
Number 10 has ordered a low-key release for the reports, which include a strong endorsement of the commercial advantages of Britain’s EU membership, fearing they might provoke another row with anti-Brussels Tory MPs. Liberal Democrats say the Conservatives want to smother the reports because Downing Street fears they do not support the case for a radical renegotiation of EU powers ahead of David Cameron’s proposed 2017 referendum.
A ninth report on the EU’s free movement of people rules was shelved amid Lib Dem claims that Theresa May, home secretary, had failed to provide evidence to support her case for tighter controls on migration.
The latest batch of "balance of competence" reports reflect the generally pro-EU conclusion of the first wave of six reports, released by Downing Street last summer. Tory officials denied any attempt to hide the reports and said they were being released as soon as they were ready. Conservative eurosceptic MPs insisted they were providing a useful catalogue of EU powers. John Redwood, a former Tory leadership contender, said: "The overwhelming impression is that we no longer have an independent government in many areas". Ukip described the set of reports as "a whitewash document on Britain’s EU membership with its most crucial chapter missing altogether".
The Telegraph writes that Government’s 'Balance of Competences' review highlights the negative effects on British businesses and households in the area of transport and the environment where "excessive European Union regulation" has the greatest impact. The study is a prelude to what David Cameron has promised will be a fundamental renegotiation of that membership. Despite the hopes of some Conservatives that the review would bolster the case for leaving the EU altogether, the reviews are understood to have reached a more mixed conclusion, finding both costs and benefits to membership, writes the newspaper.
See also the review by Michael Emerson, Associate Senior Research Fellow at CEPS: "UK Government: No case for repatriation yet established"