Downing Street Says » European Union

Asked what had happened to the letter David Miliband had promised about the red lines, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) referred the journalist to the Foreign Office.

Asked about the Prime Minister’s position on a referendum, and whether it was always going to be approved or vetoed, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister’s position had been entirely consistent. On Monday he was simply making the point that we would veto a treaty that did not meet our red lines, as he made very clear today. In principal, in the Prime Minister’s view, there would be a case for a referendum if the red lines were not met. But it was his intention to veto any treaty that did not secure our red lines.

Put that this meant that the referendum was a technical, almost symbolic threat, the PMS replied that as the Prime Minister had said this morning, if we accepted the Amending Treaty, in other words if we met all our red lines, then we would not need to put forward to the British people the idea that there should be a referendum because we had achieved the British national interest.

Put that what the Prime Minister did not say was that if we did not meet the red lines then we wouldn’t sign it anyway, so no need for a referendum, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister was very explicit about this too.

Asked if there was ever the option of a referendum on an unsatisfactory result, the PMS replied that the position on this had been made very clear by the Prime Minister earlier today.

Put that the European Scrutiny Committee had written to the Foreign Secretary to say that now they had had a chance to look at the redrafted documents, they were now even less happy than before, the PMS replied that he had not seen the letter the journalist was referring to.

Asked if there would be a formal signing at the Summit next week, the PMS replied that there would not be.

Asked what processes would be gone through next week, the PMS replied that his understanding of the process, and the Foreign Office could give chapter and verse on this, was that once the Treaty was agreed it then had to be translated into all of the different languages, and that would obviously take a period of time. The Treaty would then subsequently be signed.

Asked how much of the Summit would be taken up by this issue, the PMS replied that this would be very difficult to predict, best to wait until next week. As the Prime Minister and President Barroso made clear this morning, it was certainly their intention to ensure that we were able to discuss a much wider set of issues than just institutional reform, that were of crucial importance to the future of Europe. Like how we responded to globalization, like taking forward the climate change agenda, and like how we could reinvigorate the trade talks.

Asked if it was right to interpret President Barroso’s comments this morning that he was relatively relaxed, that we would get our red lines, and that it was already a done deal, the PMS replied that he wouldn’t want to interpret President Barroso’s words.

Asked if the Prime Minister meant to suggest that there would be no British representation at all at this December’s EU-Africa Summit, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister answered this question on Monday and said that there would be no senior Minister attending – that position had not changed.

Asked if we would be sending a Minister of State, the PMS replied that the journalist should wait and see.

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» Thursday, October 11, 2007

European Union

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