Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: PM’s Moscow Visit/EU Defence and Foundation Hospitals.
PM’s Moscow Visit/EU Defence
Asked to summarise the Prime Minister’s briefing on the plane to Moscow earlier today, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the Prime Minister had taken the opportunity to stress the need to repair the international strains in the run-up to the conflict in Iraq. He had said there was no point in pretending that those strains and stresses did not exist. They did, and that was why they needed to be addressed. He had also focussed on the importance of rebuilding the international consensus and working together with Russia and others to deal with the humanitarian and reconstruction issues, as well as the need to transfer authority to the Iraqi people as quickly as possible.
Questioned about the meeting in Brussels today attended by France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had been asked about this matter in his briefing en route to Moscow. He had reminded journalists that today’s meeting had been arranged and attended by just four of the fifteen existing EU member states. This number was even more significant if you took into account the fact that the EU was due to expand to twenty five next year. Asked if he was implying that the proposals which had been put forward at the Brussels meeting today did not have ‘a ghost of a chance’ of being implemented, the PMOS said that he wasn’t implying anything. He was merely making the point that we would want to discuss the proposals and that people should not run away with the idea that a mere four countries could dictate the policy of Europe. They couldn’t. There had to be a consensus across existing member states and candidate countries. Asked if there was anything to prevent the four countries setting up an internal ‘union’ of their own if they wanted to do so, the PMOS said that we would obviously study the proposals that had been put forward today. However it was important not to underestimate the role of the EU and NATO. There appeared to be a prevailing view that the UK was isolated in Europe. We were not. This was evidenced by the fact that eleven of the fifteen EU members states, including Britain, had not been invited to today’s meeting in Brussels.
Foundation Hospitals
Asked why the Prime Minister was so exercised by the issue of foundation hospitals given the fact he appeared to have been well briefed on the issue in his news conference yesterday, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister’s comments yesterday fitted into his overall approach to public sector reform - namely that reform was inextricably linked to investment and had to happen. Questioned about support for the policy, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had underlined yesterday that he was not afraid to argue the case for public service reform and would continue to do so. Asked if the Prime Minister would resign if he was unable to get the legislation on foundation hospitals through Parliament, the PMOS said that it wasn’t his policy to answer hypothetical questions, particularly those of the dual variety.
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