The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Mr Robin Walker)
Lord Callanan, Minister of State for Exiting the European Union, has made the following statement:
I represented the UK at the General Affairs Council (GAC) meeting on 16 October in Luxembourg. A provisional report of the meeting and the conclusions adopted can be found on the Council of the European Union’s website at:
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/gac/2018/10/16/
Preparation of October European Council
The Council discussed the draft conclusions for the European Council meeting on 18 October at which leaders from the 28 EU states discussed migration, internal security and external relations.
Ministers were content with the conclusions text on migration. I stated that the UK viewed the text as being balanced and welcomed the focus on developing operational outcomes. I also welcomed the intention to tackle people-smuggling networks and monitor and disrupt their online communications.
On internal security, I welcomed the references to the attack in Salisbury in March and the attempted cyber-attack carried out against the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in April. I called for the acceleration of work to establish a cyber toolkit capable of responding to malicious cyber-attacks through restrictive measures.
Following Ministers’ discussions, the European Council discussed external relations, including the EU-Africa partnership and the upcoming summit between the 28 EU member states with the League of Arab States on 24 and 25 February 2019.
Rule of law in Poland
The Commission updated the Council on the most recent developments regarding the rule of law in Poland. The Commission called for a further hearing at a future meeting of the Council. In previous discussions on this matter, the UK has intervened to highlight the importance of the rule of law. Consequently, I did not intervene on this occasion.
Respect for EU values in Hungary
The presidency provided the Council with an update on the next procedural steps following the European Parliament’s triggering of the article 7(1) treaty on European Union (TEU) procedure for Hungary. This was the first GAC at which Ministers had considered the article 7(1) TEU process against Hungary and I intervened to reaffirm the value that the UK places on the importance of the rule of law.
Multiannual financial framework
The presidency provided the Council with an assessment of the latest position in the ongoing multiannual financial framework discussions.
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