Downing Street Says » EU Summit

Asked if the Prime Minister would be attending the EU Summit in Lisbon, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman told the assembled press that a decision had not been made as yet. The Prime Minister hoped to go to Lisbon but the Liaison Committee was also scheduled for the same day, so it was being looked into as to whether it was possible to combine the two.

Asked what time the Treaty would be signed in Lisbon, the PMS replied that it was slightly variable at the moment and the Government was seeing if it would be possible to accommodate the Prime Minister. However, there were twenty-six other Heads of Government that would also have to be accommodated. The PMS added that the Prime Minister hoped to go, but the Liaison Committee was a very important occasion for the Prime Minister and that had been scheduled for that morning.

Asked if the Prime Minister actually wanted to go and could an assurance be given that this wasn’t a way of avoiding putting his signature on the Treaty, the PMS reiterated that the Prime Minister did want to go. The Prime Minister negotiated the Treaty, he was the Head of Government and he would take full responsibility for that. The PMS said that there had been several precedents for Heads of Government not signing such Treaties, but he advised people not to read anything into it in terms of the Prime Minister’s position in relation to the Treaty at all.

Put that the Government would have negotiated with the Liaison Committee on timing and would have known the time of the signing of the Treaty, the PMS said that there had been a lot of uncertainty about exactly what the process would be for the signing ceremony. For example, there had been some suggestion that it may have been signed at the EU/Africa Summit. Asked that given the Prime Minister had said that he would not go to the EU/Africa Summit and was this not further evidence that he did not want to be there, the PMS said that this was not the case at all, as it was possible that Mr Mugabe may not have gone to the EU/Africa Summit. The Government’s position was that they would not go to the EU/Africa Summit if Mr Mugabe was going, but obviously if Mr Mugabe had chosen not to go, or it had been decided on his behalf that he shouldn’t go, then the Prime Minister would have gone and there could have been an opportunity to sign the Treaty there.

Asked to give the most recent precedent of a British Prime Minister not signing a Treaty, the PMS said that Robin Cook signed the Nice Treaty in 2001, Dougie Henderson signed the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997, Francis Maude as well as Douglas Hurd signed the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and it was Lady Chalker who signed the Single European Act. So there had been quite a lot of precedents for people other than the Prime Minister signing European Treaties, so people should not read anything into it.

Asked if those precedents occurred when other Heads of Government were not signing Treaties, the PMS replied that he did not have that level of detail to hand, but noted that Baroness Chalker wasn’t even a Cabinet Minister when she signed it and that was also the case for Francis Maude, so it wouldn’t necessarily be with their direct equivalents either. As a general principle, whoever signs the Treaty, signs it on behalf of the Government; the Prime Minister was the Head of the Government and he would take full responsibility for the content of the Treaty, as he negotiated the fine detail of it in Lisbon in October.

Asked if the Prime Minister did not go, would it be the Foreign Secretary who attended, the PMS said that in the past it had tended to be Foreign Minister’s who had been the next port of call. At the moment it was still hoped that it would be the Prime Minister. Asked if the Prime Minister thought it was a good Treaty, the PMS replied that he did and that’s why he agreed to it.

1 Comment »

Under no circumstances should Gordon Brown, or any one else connected to the British Govt. sign this Treaty.

It will further seal our fate as a once proud and great nation.

We must be in charge of our own commerce and economy, answerable through Parliament at Westminster. No other unelected body should have any influence on Great Britain’s dealings with other countries of the world.

We have done this for centuries very successfully. Under the current administration, all our powers are being erradicated slowly but surely.

We must stop this now.
Comment by Stuart Guppy — 7 Dec 2007 on 10:08 am | Link

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» Wednesday, December 5, 2007

EU Summit

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