Downing Street Says » European Council Summit

The Prime Minister has now seen Chancellor Merkel, President Sarkozy and President Barrosso and I just thought I would give you a quick update on where we are and if I could just focus in on the issue of competition.

As I said a short time ago at the briefing, we want a clarification of what was going on, and I think that we now have it, and the position is this. For us what matters is that there is no change or challenge to the legal basis on competition in the Treaty and that is the case. We have counted it up. There are 13 references to competition in the draft Treaty and therefore legally the position on competition will not change in any way. The French concern is that in the constitutional treaty, in the preamble, competition in their view was made into an end, rather than a means to an end. Now for us that is a French debate

A French debate. For us, what matters is that elsewhere in the treaty it is 13 times and therefore let us see how it turns out, but I think as a result of this morning’s meeting clarification is emerging on this issue. I thought it was important that people did not run off with the idea that this was …

So essentially the French position as it was overnight will stay but we are protected because it does not mean that our own …..

Let us see what the text turns out, but now we have a much better understanding of what the French wanted to do, and we don’t believe that that challenges the basic legal position, which we need to protect …

The change being made would strike down, or have a superior power over, the other references to competition. That was the argument.

The argument from the French side is that you make competition an end of the European Union, rather than a means to the end and to them that is the cost sensitive …

You make competition an end in itself rather than a means to an end and that causes French sensitivities, and we do have to be aware of French sensitivities just as we ask others to be aware of ours. But the important thing is, does it in any way change the legal position and does it change the Treaty of Rome position on competition? The answer is no.

Do those 13 other references to competition contain the word "undistorted" next to the word competition?

Does our understanding of the French position mean that if it comes to it, we will support the French in this in the discussions?

I think that the important thing is that as always you have to see the final text and I don’t want to get ahead of myself in that. But there were concerns amongst other governments and there were concerns in certain bits of the Commission on this. I think people are now much more reassured across the board about ..

Well I don’t speak for Mr Barrosso and I am not going to speak for Mr Barrosso but I am reporting in the context of a discussion with President Barrosso.

That is the second time you have asked me to speak for President Barrosso. There will not be a third. I am speaking in the context of that discussion and I think there is now much greater understanding of where the French are coming from, but just as importantly where they are not coming from.

Just on the question of state aid and whether or not money can be provided, do we think it makes any difference?

This doesn’t make any difference to the legal position of Rome and that is what is important.

Did Mr Sarkozy indicate or did you feel comfortable afterwards that France would be helpful with our red line area?

I’m not asking you to speak for them, but did you feel confident that our position was understood?

I think I said earlier that I think there is a greater understanding this morning that we have not come to this Summit with a negotiating ploy, we have come with an honest assessment of where we are. I think that I am more confident of saying that after these discussions than earlier. I think the understanding is developing out there that this is not grandstanding, this is not playing games, this is a realistic assessment of where we are. Now equally, that demands of us an understanding of other people’s sensitivities and therefore we need to make sure that in no way do we give away on a national interest, or indeed any new interest that we can support but equally we ask others to do the same.

Did the Prime Minister base his decision to accept the French on this purely on the legal advice that it did not change anything, or was he also thinking about the wider diplomatic negotiations that are going on in terms of giving the French a little so that we can get a little in return?

Well look if, you have a concern your fundamental approach is to find out how deeply you should be concerned, and if the position had been that what was being proposed challenged the legal status, then that would be a matter of deep concern.

What is the point of it if it doesn’t make any legal difference? Why do the French want it?

Well as I said, it is all about the interpretation of whether competition is an end in itself or a means of getting to an end and that is important in the French philosophy.

Is there any chance you could just explain that a tiny bit more because I am not sure I completely understood the difference between competition being an end, and being a means to an end.

Well it depends in terms of – do all EU countries believe that competition is an end in terms of something of value, or is it a means of getting greater prosperity in the EU. In other words, is it something that you set up as a principal value or is it a means of achieving something else. That is essentially it. I am not an expert on French policy thinking or philosophy in these matters. I prefer to let them speak for themselves on these matters but I think it is important that we make the effort to understand where they are coming from.

Did today provide any examples of why that might make a practical difference to them on an ongoing basis or can you divine any example?

Wouldn’t the lawyers argue that something would have greater legal force if it was in the introduction to the treaty rather than in 13 disparate places all over the place? If it was up there in lights wouldn’t it have more legal force?

Is it right that there were 20 other countries objecting to this, 20 other countries concerned?

To be honest the Prime Minister, when he is sitting at the dinner table, tends to concentrate on what he is saying, rather than counting out the numbers. But as I said earlier it wasn’t just a UK-specific problem by any means.

Well I think what we are satisfied is that we have a much better understanding of where the French are coming from, and therefore we see better ways, or easier ways, of resolving this issue than perhaps we did before the meeting.

Can I just come to the Dutch at the moment because there is a related problem that the Dutch are raising about public services which has been leaked to me by one of the other liberal governments. They suggest that the two things together, cutting out the reference to competition and the Dutch thing on public services, are both driving a coach and horses through the commitment of the community to a liberal economic policy.

Well I think the Dutch will speak for themselves and I think let us take the issues one at a time.

Well we have got a lot of issues on the table all day, so if we have one press conference per issue it is going to take you an awful lot of time to deal with them.

Again, let us deal with the issues as and when we have dealt with them, but this is not going to be over by lunchtime.

Is there any up-date on the 4 red lines and do you think that the Charter of Fundamental Rights is going to be the main sticking point for us?

I think it is difficult, it is tough. What that means, however, is that we have to explain why we have a concern and why we need a guarantee of our position. Let’s see if we get that.

No as I said earlier it was, as always with Chancellor Merkel, but she has a job to do as President of the EU.

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» Friday, June 22, 2007

European Council Summit

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