Downing Street Says

The Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) summarised the Cabinet’s discussion on Europe. He said that there was a good conversation on what had happened the previous week and next steps. Clearly there were differences of view in the Coalition, but there was also a lot of common ground, particularly around the need to push ahead with the single market and for the Eurozone to address the debt crisis. He added that the Government would be engaging constructively in the discussion happening across Europe to implement the agreement.

Asked if the Liberal Democrats could have had more of a role in the negotiations, the PMS said that they agreed the negotiating strategy but that there was only one seat in the room.

Asked at what stage the Prime Minister (PM) consulted the DPM before he used the veto, the PMS said there was an agreed negotiating strategy that the PM had spoken about in PMQs, which included the possibility of an agreement below the level of 27.

Asked if the use of EU institutions was discussed at Cabinet, the PMS said there was some discussion, but that it didn’t move things on from what the PM had said in his statement to Parliament.

Asked if the PM had any concerns that he wasn’t adequately briefed, the PMS said that he did not.

Asked for the PM’s view on President Sarkozy’s opinion that there were now two Europes, the PMS said that the PM set out his views in detail in his statement.

Asked if the Cabinet discussed the mechanics of future negotiations, the PMS said that there was some discussion of the process as there would be future discussions on this issue.

Asked if the Liberal Democrats would have a greater role in the discussions in the future, the PMS said they already had a role. There was an agreed negotiating strategy. The Liberal Democrats were part of the diplomatic efforts – the DPM had spoken to some of his counterparts ahead of the Council.

Asked if it was true that Kim Darroch only had 48 hours notice of our position, the PMS said that the Franco/German proposals didn’t arrive until Wednesday afternoon and that, although we knew the issues which would be under discussion, things didn’t converge until just before the summit. There wasn’t a firm proposal on the table until the day before.

Asked how the DPM was kept informed if things were changing so last minute, the PMS said that the agreed negotiating strategy included the different possible outcomes, some of which the PM went through at PMQs the day before. These options included an outcome with agreement below the level of 27.

Asked if the PM would go back to the negotiating table if other European countries changed their minds, the PMS said that the PM talked about this in his statement yesterday. Other countries had expressed their preference to see this agreement brought into European Law, and the PM had said his position hadn’t changed. The PMS added that our demands were reasonable and we were seeking to provide clarity on the single market and financial services.

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a public comment

Name (required)
E-mail (required)
(You must give an email address, but it will not be displayed to the public.)
Website
(You may give your website, and it will be displayed to the public.)

Comments:

This is not a way of contacting the Prime Minister. If you would like to contact the Prime Minister, go to the 10 Downing Street official site.

Privacy note: Shortly after posting, your name and comment will be displayed on the site. This means that people searching for your name on the Internet will be able to find and read your comment.

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.

» Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Europe

No Comments »

Post a public comment

Search

Supported by

Recent Briefings

Archives

Links

Syndicate (RSS/XML)

Credits

Enquiries