UKIP, Tory and Lib Dem MEPs to attend Lords EU inquiry into economic and monetary union

Sharon Bowles, Liberal Democrat MEP, Syed Kamall, Conservative MEP and Roger Helmer, UKIP MEP, will be asked how the UK's refusal to engage in many aspects of Genuine Economic and Monetary Union (GEMU) is viewed in European Parliamentary debates.

The Lords committee is investigating EU plans for GEMU, asking how effective the plans will be and how much the UK should be involved in the proposals.

The Committee will also ask the MEPs questions such as:

• Are you optimistic that the difficulties around GEMU will be sufficiently resolved?
• Are the differences between the euro area Members and the non-euro Members a source of difficulties which may have been ignored as part of the debate around GEMU?
• How realistic is it to expect full EU banking union to be put in place in the short to medium term?
• Do you believe an autonomous euro area budget to be necessary, and what would its purpose be?

The Committee will also be taking evidence from Professor Agnes Benassy-Quere from the Paris School of Economics. The Lords will ask her how the weakened French economy is affecting its role in pushing through GEMU proposals; which parts of the GEMU proposals are worth pursuing and which could be counter-productive; and how an independent European fiscal committee might function.

This part of the evidence session will be via videoconference, starting at 11.30 am.

The evidence session will start at 10.30 am on Friday 25 October in Committee Room 1 of the House of Lords.