17 December 2001
With permission, Mr Speaker, I shall make a statement on the European Council which took place in Belgium on 14 and 15 December.
The fight against terrorism remains uppermost in the minds of all the members of the European Union. There remains unanimous support for the military action which has been taken in Afghanistan and a determination to continue our efforts to root out the Al Qaida terrorist network. The recent video of Bin Laden demonstrates his guilt beyond any reasonable doubt. It brought home the sheer evil of Bin Laden and his followers and their sick pleasure in the murders which they committed. No-one can now dispute that ridding the world of the Al Qaida terrorist network is a job in the interests of us all.
The European Council welcomed the Bonn agreement between the Afghan groups. It gave strong support for the deployment of an international security assistance force authorised by the UN Security Council, as called for by the Afghan parties in the Bonn Agreement. The details of such a force must await the outcome of the meetings in Kabul between an international military team led by Major General McColl and the interim authorities in Afghanistan. But I can tell the House the following. Britain is willing, in principle, to lead such a force. It is likely to comprise troops from various countries, European and others. Friday’s meeting of potential troop-contributing nations was attended by a number of EU countries as well as Argentina, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Jordan, Malaysia, Turkey and the US. The British contingent is likely to be up to 1,000-1,500, though I stress that is not yet decided. We expect the resolution to be passed by the UNSC later this week. The US has given its full help and support for the security force. We would hope to have lead elements in place shortly.
This force was a critical part of the agreement reached in Bonn on 5December for the establishment of a Provisional Government in Afghanistan. There has been a brilliant victory over the Taleban, who have ceased to be the Afghan Government. That is a welcome liberation. But we know that is only the start of enabling Afghanistan to cease being a failed state and become a responsible partner in the region. The situation in Afghanistan remains fragile; the new political process remains in its infancy. There is therefore an urgent need to ensure that, as the war is being won, we play our part in securing the peace.
The European Council took stock of European Security and Defence Policy. We are determined to finalise soon the EU’s arrangements with NATO. That will enhance the EU’s capability to carry out crisis management operations over the full range of the so-called Petersberg tasks.
The European Council met amid continuing and appalling violence in the Middle East. In our view, and that of all our partners, the only basis for peace in the Middle East is full recognition of Israel’s right to live in peace and security and the establishment of a viable Palestinian State. The members of the European Council will continue to do all that they can individually and through the good offices of the Secretary-General, Javier Solana, to whom I pay tribute, to help create the circumstances in which the violence can be halted and the dialogue resumed.
Mr Speaker, the European Council’s other main purpose was to prepare for discussion on the future of Europe. It now looks increasingly likely as if ten new countries will join the European Union in 2004. We welcome that. Their accession will contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in Europe - ours as well as theirs. But it is obvious that the European Union cannot, with 25 and more members, work in the same way, with precisely the same constitution, as it has with 15. Decision-making will need to be streamlined. EU laws will need increasingly to take the form of framework legislation, with the details of implementation left to the member states. It is already the task of the European Council to give strategic direction to the European Union as a whole. But carrying that strategic direction into practice will mean looking again at the size and role of the Commission, reviewing the workings of the existing Presidency of the Union, which presently changes hands every six months, and managing the business of the various specialist Councils in a more coherent way. That was why, at Nice, a year ago, when we opened the way for enlargement, we also agreed that there should be another Intergovernmental Conference in 2004 and why now we are going to set up a Convention to prepare for that Conference by detailed examination of all these issues.
The basic agenda for that Conference was agreed at Nice. The sort of questions which will need to be asked are set out in the Declaration of Heads of Government issued at Laeken at the weekend.
That Declaration, which I welcome, acknowledges the contribution which the European Union has made to peace, stability and prosperity in all our countries, but also the extent to which it has to deliver results to its citizens on jobs, the single market, the fight against crime, a safe environment. The British view, widely shared, is that while it is right to co-operate ever more closely with our partners, democratic accountability is fundamentally and ultimately rooted in the Member State. As the Declaration says, what Europe’s citizens expect is "more results, better responses to practical issues and not a European superstate or European institutions inveigling their way into every nook and cranny of life".
The Laeken Declaration, and the Convention, give us the opportunity to take a serious look at the division of competences between the Union and the Member States. For the first time in the Union’s history we shall be looking at the prospect of restoring some tasks to the Member States. We now also have the chance to open up the European institutions to greater public scrutiny. And the role which I want to see our Parliament playing in policing that process is now explicitly recognised.
The Convention which we have now established will be chaired by former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing who, when President of France, played an instrumental role in bringing the European Council into being. It will work for a year. Each national parliament will have two representatives as members of the Convention. The regions will be represented as observers and there will be ample opportunity for views from all sectors of public opinion to be fed into the proceedings. Consultations will, of course, be held in the usual way on who our Parliamentary representatives will be. The Convention will present options to Heads of Government who will determine whether those options should lead to changes in the Treaty. Those changes would be made by unanimous agreement of governments.
In the aftermath of 11 September, the European Council welcomed the agreement that has been reached on a European arrest warrant. We also agreed to give fresh impetus to delivering our objectives on asylum and illegal immigration. That will mean return agreements with third countries; a new agreement on handling asylum seekers, including common standards on asylum procedures and reception. We have agreed to improve co-operation on our external border controls. These are all areas where we need common action within Europe, and the strength of a united European approach in dealing with the rest of the world. I hope we shall see agreements concluded in the coming year on all these points.
Once again at this Council, Britain played its full part constructively and achieved the outcome it desired. Europe faces huge challenges ahead, as it enlarges to 25 and, over time, to more than 30 countries covering territory from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, with 500million citizens in the EU: challenges over the completion of the single market with a single currency; over economic reform; over making European security and foreign policy work; over giving Europe the institutional framework to allow it to function effectively. These debates matter to Europe. They matter fundamentally to Britain. The days of isolationism are gone. Our role now is to be a leading partner in shaping the Europe of the future, not following reluctantly the shape moulded by others. We are playing that role now. We will continue to do so.
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