A short while ago an old friend of mine, who'd worked in one of the big plants in Blackburn, now long closed, came to see me to talk about the Government's pensions policy.

Her concern was that state pensions should in future be up-rated in line with earnings not prices.

At the end of the meeting - which took place in the House of Commons - I suggested that we might meet again in Blackburn in the following couple of months.

"No" she said, "can't do that". How about a week or so later? "No" again. "Sorry Jack, it's cold and damp in Blackburn in these months. We're off to Spain".

"Surely not for three months, Maureen?" I asked.

"Oh no", she replied, "four. That way we avoid the worst of the weather."

I don't know everything about Maureen, least of all her exact financial circumstances. That's her private business.

But I do know that she held down a job for many years in a Blackburn factory which paid reasonably but not generously; that she has a works pension on top of her state pension, and that she has told me on more than one occasion that because her house here is paid up, and because they have managed their money properly, they have been able to buy property in Spain.

And I'm delighted that she is able to enjoy better the fruits of her long factory labour much better than our parents ever dreamed of.

What's more there are these days hundreds, if not thousands, of people across East Lancashire like Maureen who have a base in Spain, and who go there not just for a two week holiday but for months at a time.

When Maureen and all those others go to Spain they go with legal guarantees - of health care, for one.

They can work if they wish. They don't have to apply for a work permit. They can work. Period.

They have basic legal rights; and if things go wrong on that front (as certainly they had in the Valencia region over ex-pats' property rights) then the problem can be taken up in a straightforward way by people like the British Foreign Secretary (ie me at the time), and ultimately might end up in a court (the European Court of Justice, or the European Court of Human Rights) whose decisions would be binding on Spain.

Guess what? Sorry to mention what's a dirty word to some people - but this is all thanks to the European Union, in the news again over the new treaty aimed at reforming it to manage its growth (there are now 27 members compared with 15 just 12 years ago).

When Maureen - and I - were younger Spain (like Portugal, and Greece) were ruled by fascist dictatorships - right until the mid-1970s.

The EU has been absolutely fundamental to helping those nations move permanently into democracy.

Under the new draft amending treaty we can decide whether we opt in to particular measures - say on driving offences - but when we do it's in our interests to be able to push changes which protect citizens to a vote, and not have them blocked by a veto.

The EU is not a loved institution. It can be overly bureaucratic. But Maureen's quality of life - and all of legal protection - would be the worse if it wasn't there.