» Monday, June 16, 2008Europe
Asked if an acceptable outcome of the upcoming Council meeting would be that European Union members went ahead with the decision making process excluding Ireland, the PMS replied that he was not sure that anyone was proposing that. David Miliband had been making the position pretty clear during the course of the day. And the Prime Minister had made clear today that the legal position was unambiguous – which was that the Treaty could only come into effect once all 27 members states had ratified it, and David Miliband would be saying more about this when gave his statement to the House later today. Asked if the Prime Minister had spoken to the Taoiseach, the PMS replied that he would be speaking to him this afternoon in Belfast. Asked if when the Prime Minister meets with President Sarkozy on Thursday, would he tell him that he agreed with the statement the President released with Chancellor Merkel within an hour of the result on Friday, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister had made the British position pretty clear, and had done so today, and David Miliband had given a consistent line on the British response in recent days, and would have more to day this afternoon. But the question was slightly putting interpretations on the Franco-German position and suggesting that there is a big difference, which was not a characterisation that we would necessarily recognise. Asked what would be on the agenda for the Sarkozy meeting, the PMS replied, that it would obviously come immediately before the European Council, so no doubt they would want to discuss the items on the agenda, in addition to Ireland and the Treaty he was sure they would want to discuss the global economy, oil and food prices. Briefing took place at 16:45 | Search for related news Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says. |
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