Downing Street Says

Asked if there would be cameras at the signing of the EU Reform Treaty, the PMS replied that, as we had made clear throughout, there would be no ambiguity about whether or not the Prime Minister had signed the treaty and he had no difficulty with being photographed or filmed. The PMS went on to say that the Prime Minster considered the fact that he was signing the treaty three hours after the other leaders to be a complete fuss about nothing. The Prime Minister had a responsibility to both Parliament and the European Union and he took both those responsibilities very seriously and we had found a way of meeting our commitments to both.

Asked if we had ever asked the Liaison Committee to reschedule to another day, the PMS replied that he had always resisted the temptation to get into the details of exactly what was said to who and when, but we were very clear that the date of the Liaison Committee was agreed some time before the date of the signing event in Lisbon was put to us and we made every effort to ensure that we could move the timing of the Liaison Committee to accommodate both events. In the end we were successful in moving the timing of the Liaison Committee forward by one hour.

Asked what the Prime Minister thought about what the Germans were proposing regarding the European flag and anthem and whether or not Britain would sign that declaration, the PMS replied that this declaration was separate from the treaty so there was no question of the treaty being reopened in any way or this declaration having any legal status or being in any way binding; this was a declaration, as we understood, that would be signed by a number of member states, certainly not all member states, and would not be signed by Britain.

Asked why it would not be signed by Britain as all it said was that we accepted there was a European flag and anthem, the PMS replied that we did not think it was necessary to sign a declaration in order to make that point. Our existing position was as had been laid down in various treaties over the years; we were not convinced that it was necessary to sign a new declaration in relation to that. We thought that the focus over the next few days on Europe should not be about institutional matters, which had preoccupied much of Europe’s time in recent years. We should be focusing on issues that mattered to real people in Europe and where Europe could make a real difference to its businesses and individuals. We wanted to see the focus on how Europe responded to globalisation, climate change and foreign policy challenges, not to enter into a lengthy discussion about flags and anthems.

Asked what we saw as the main business in Brussels, the PMS replied that the main business would be primarily around the globalisation agenda and how that would be taken forward. We would also anticipate some discussion on some of the wider foreign policy issues, in particular Kosovo and Iran.

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» Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Lisbon

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