Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: European Council/UK rebate, Arms Embargo to China and Butler Report.
European Council meeting/UK Rebate
Asked if there was a Government response to President Chirac’s comments about the British rebate, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that if anyone cared to type the words : President Chirac; rebate; a Summit into Google they would find that President Chirac had said similar things before at summits, but the British Government’s position had not changed. If there had been a transcript of the proceedings from the European Council from the last 24 hours, it would show that it was not mentioned once, neither at dinner last night, nor at this morning’s session.
Put to the PMOS that this issue had to be sorted out, "one way or the other" in the next year or so, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister, and the Foreign Secretary had said we were quite prepared to argue our case, but given the differential contributions, not least from France itself, we believed that the rebate was justified.
Asked for clarification about Jack Straw’s comments about using the veto to defend the rebate, the PMOS replied that our position was very clear. He said again that we believed the rebate was justified and we would argue for it in discussions. It was a matter of fact that we had a veto over any decision on this matter.
Arms Embargo to China
Asked what the Government’s position was on the arms embargo to China, the PMOS said we had always been supportive of the EU position, whilst at the same time recognising that the code that would replace the arms embargo (which was also applied to other countries such as Iran and Syria), would need to be strengthened. We had also, however, recognised that the EU itself was engaged in discussions with the United States and as Javier Solana’s Spokesperson had said, those discussions were complex. The PMOS said those discussions should be allowed to take place, but there was nothing new in saying we were supportive of the EU position, whilst also waiting for the outcome of the discussions with the US.
Put to the PMOS that Mr. Solana had said that China deserved to have the embargo lifted, and did the Government agree with him, and should the timetable stay the same, the PMOS said we would consider this matter with our EU colleagues. We would prefer there was a consensus between the EU and the United States, but the PMOS said he would not second guess those discussions. Those discussions should be allowed to go at their own pace.
Butler Report
Asked if in response to the WMS this morning, there would no more "sofa meetings" and meeting minutes would be taken from now on, as outlined in the Butler Report, the PMOS said we would implement the Butler recommendations, and we would do so, as we said at the time the Butler Report was published. Today’s statement only confirmed what we had already said.
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