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» Friday, December 9, 2005

Europe

Asked if by the time the Prime Minister spoke this afternoon, there might be a clear idea of any new proposals on the EU budget, the Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMOS) replied that as he had said yesterday, and as was the pattern for these kinds of negotiations, the Presidency had put down proposals. Discussions would then take place with member countries, and then new proposals were put down. However, any new proposals would not be put down until the middle of next week.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Workers’ Hours

Asked if it was the Government's position that they were happy to have a cap on British workers' hours not exceeding 65, the PMOS said that this was a matter that was of continuing discussion. The report in the Guardian that said that there was a decision yesterday was not correct. There was no question of a decision being taken, or a date being set, and there was a good of support in Europe for retaining the opt-out. The PMOS said that those discussions were continuing, and we would continue to work on this to the end of our Presidency.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

G8 plus 5

Asked to clarify if the G8 (Group of Eight) plus 5 were not going ahead with a meeting before the WTO, the PMOS said that it had been dependent on the outcome of the G7 meeting last weekend. While some progress was made, people could detect that there were still major differences there, and that remained the position. We would continue to consider the implications, but the fact remained that there were still differences there.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

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» Friday, December 9, 2005

Europe

Workers’ Hours

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