I note that the Minister is nodding. I understand that she will undertake that the orders will not be made until after the bank is established. I believe that that is the case, but if I am wrong, I hope that the Minister will intervene. If I have got it right, I hope that she will nod again, as that undertaking is of some constitutional significance.

I am not sure that the Select Committee on European Legislation, of which I have the privilege to be Chairman, will regard the resolution of the House about debates before decisions as having been discharged by this debate. The House has heard enough from Conservative Members, especially from the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr. Wells), to understand that the constitution of the bank and the way in which it will operate—the political and economic objectives that it will set itself—are of enormous significance. I suspect that, in years to come, people will look back on this debate to discover from which acorn that particular oak, well developed or not, grew. They will realise that the speed with which matters developed on the continent and in the bank presented us with some difficulties.

Reference has been made to the proposals for the bank that were made some time ago. A decision was taken in the Development Council or the Finance Council on 8 May to the effect that decision 5962/90, which includes 63 articles, should go ahead. That decision was sent to the Government on 8 May and on 21 June an explanatory memorandum was provided for the Select Committee on European Legislation. We reported on its contents on 27 June. The orders are now before us and no doubt they will be considered in due course.

This is a most unfortunate state of affairs. Although it is a matter for the Committee and not for me, I think that at some date we may need to have a look at the articles themselves and at the EEC regulations, which have received comment but no close examination.