Downing Street Says » European Union

Asked if there were any thoughts on the Government’s response to the French referendum the PMOS said yes, we should let it happen first and then respond. Then we would respond in the appropriate way. Asked what the British position was on the abatement the PMOS said that it had already been set out by himself, and more importantly by the Chancellor and the Foreign Secretary. We believed that the abatement was fully justified. We had set out the arguments why and that was the important thing that people needed to engage with. Those arguments remained as we had set out. Asked if we had any objections to the calculations or amount being changed in anyway the PMOS said that we believed that it was wholly justified and that remained our position. Others would put a counter case, but in the end we had to agree and we believed it was wholly justified. Asked if the current value was a red line the PMOS reiterated that we believed it was wholly justified, others would put forward whatever arguments they wanted but they had to address the basics of our argument. It was not a macho stance. It was an argument based on economics and that remained the case.

Asked why we had not yet used the phrase "wholly justified and non negotiable" as used by the Chancellor the PMOS said, as he had last week when asked, that the position of ourselves the Treasury and the Foreign Office was exactly the same and what people should address was the substance of the argument rather than playing word games. The substance of the argument was, as set out by the Chancellor yesterday, as the Foreign Secretary had set out, and as The Prime Minister had set out. The reason why we had the position we had was because of the balance of financing and funding within Europe. It was not a macho position. It was an economic argument and the Prime Minister was happy to set that out when discussing it with anybody. This was not about playing word games. It was about the basic case, which was that it was wholly justified and anyone who wanted to argue with that had to address our basic argument. It was important that people understood that it was because of the balance of funding coming out of EU agricultural policy and because of the balance coming out of EU structural funding that we had the rebate. That case remained and it was wholly justified.

Asked if the British Government achieved its aim in terms of CAP reform would it be justified to negotiate on that agreement the PMOS said that the position was that we were not dealing with ifs, we were dealing with the present situation, as such we should deal with that alone. In response to the suggestion that the Chancellor had dealt with just such an issue the PMOS said that he had read the Chancellor’s transcript and the position was, as set out. The Chancellor had been dealing with the factual case and not with hypotheticals. It was not about word games it was about that factual case that those who opposed it had to address that and everyone should deal with the reality.

2 Comments »

The French are voting no because this constitution attacks workers rights in order to allow rich businessmen to make bigger profits. As a supposedly left wing party, shouldn’t the Labour party be opposing this constitution as well?
Comment by Uncarved Block — 23 May 2005 on 8:01 pm | Link
yes, but yes, but No
Comment by Colonel Mad — 23 May 2005 on 11:55 pm | Link

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» Monday, May 23, 2005

European Union

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