The Prime Minister has updated MPs on last week’s EU Council meeting. He also stated the UK Government’s position on current operations in Iraq.
Watch the Prime Minister deliver his statement in Parliament
Read the Prime Minister’s statement in full below
With permission, Mr Speaker, I shall make a Statement on the European Council that took place in Brussels on 4 and 5 November. I would like to thank Prime Minister Balkenende and the Dutch Government for their arrangements for the summit, and for the way which they have conducted their Presidency to date. The Council was inevitably dominated by Iraq, given the presence of Dr Allawi, the Iraqi Prime Minister.
Firstly, let me express what I know will be the sentiments of the entire House, in sending our profound condolences to the families of the Black Watch soldiers killed by a terrorist bomb in Iraq last week and our sympathy to those soldiers injured yesterday in another terrorist attack. We salute their dedication, professionalism and above all, sheer and undaunted courage. They are an example to us all and we can and should be very proud of them.
And let us also be very clear about the fundamental importance to Britain’s security in what the Black Watch and the British armed forces in the south of Iraq are doing.
Defeat of terrorism in Iraq is defeat for this new and virulent form of global terrorism everywhere. A democratic Iraq is the last thing the terrorists want to see. It is precisely for that reason - because victory for the terrorists would damage security round the world including here in Britain - that we have to hold firm, be resolute and see this through, including in Fallujah.
The action by allied and Iraqi forces underway in Fallujah would cease now, immediately, if the terrorists and insurgents who are using Fallujah as a base for terrorism would lay down their weapons and agree to participate in the elections. Over the past few months, Prime Minister Allawi has tried to persuade them to do so. They have refused not because they are fighting a foreign occupation - if the terrorism stopped, American, British and other troops would leave - but because they are fighting democracy, they are fighting to stop democratic elections supervised by the UN and due to take place in January.
They know that whilst Fallujah remains outside the control of the UN-endorsed government they can use it to wreck elections. And why do the terrorists fear elections? Because they know that given the chance to vote for their Government, Iraqis would reject the extremism and fanaticism the terrorists represent.
The powerful speech made by Dr Allawi to the European Council made precisely those points. He appealed for Europe’s help. Some promised support of a military nature; others promised only financial support. But all of the Council agreed that it was in the interests of global security for Iraqi elections to take place.
The Council agreed a comprehensive package of EU assistance for Iraq including a further programme of financial and logistical support for the elections; and the financing for the UN Protection Force.
This is on top of 300 million euros of humanitarian and reconstruction support from the EU over the last two years.
Following the re-election of President Bush, the Council also agreed that a close trans-Atlantic partnership was fundamental to building international peace, security and prosperity; and that we now need to strengthen the Alliance, so that we can intensify our work together in addressing the main international threats and challenges of the moment, including regional conflicts, terrorism and WMD.
The Council heard a presentation from the former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Wim Kok, on his mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy on European economic competitiveness. He rightly concluded that Europe has to do far more to improve its underlying economic performance if it is to respond to the challenges of Asia and the US. And he sensibly highlights the importance of completing the Single Market, developing flexible labour markets, and promoting sustainable growth.
The Council adopted a new 5 year work programme of measures in the area of justice and home affairs.
There are great benefits for the UK in cooperation with our European partners on these issues. Illegal immigration affects all Member States.
But, the opt-in protocol for Britain, negotiated in Amsterdam in 1997, remains. It is also enshrined in the new Constitutional Treaty. We have successfully used it over the last five years to opt in to new measures on asylum and on combating illegal immigration - and to opt out of measures on legal migration, frontiers and visas. It gives us the right to decide whether to participate in each item of the EU work programme and makes a nonsense of claims that Britain has given up the right to control its own borders. If, of course, we do opt-in, because we want a particular measure to happen, it is in our interests that in a Europe of 25 and soon 27 or 28 countries, the use of a veto by another country cannot block the measure.
Finally, the President-designate of the Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, briefed us on his proposals for restructuring the new Commission. He has reacted decisively to resolve the dispute with the European Parliament and I am confident that, as a result, the new Commission will be able to take office soon.
In summary the meeting once again underlined the importance to Britain of maintaining both a strong relationship with the USA and a strong place in the Councils of the EU. Both partnerships are vital to the British national interest and it will remain the policy, of this Government at least, to nurture both.
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