European Council

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon Excerpts

Monday 5th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]

My Lords, I thank the Leader of the House for repeating the Statement made by the Prime Minister. I start by associating these Benches with the words in the Statement, repeated by the Minister, on Somalia and Serbia.

On the pressing issue of the continuing violence in Syria, the pictures and testimony coming out of Homs today are horrific, with people telling of seeing their children murdered in front of their eyes. Responsibility for the brutal repression and murder of innocent people lies firmly at the door of President Assad and his regime. It is appalling that the Syrian Government have so far even refused requests for humanitarian access.

In this context, it is even more important that Britain puts pressure on the international community to back a UN resolution and address this desperate situation. Can the Leader of the House update the House on both UK and EU efforts to support the Arab League and the joint special envoy in their efforts to broker an end to the bloodshed? Can he also tell us what steps are now in train to strengthen sanctions against the Assad regime, including the enforcement of Arab League sanctions? Given the Russians’ responsibility for vetoing the last UN resolution on Syria, they will be judged by their actions rather than their words. Following the Prime Minister's conversation with Vladimir Putin earlier today, what concrete actions do the Government now expect Russia to take?

I now turn to other matters at the European Council, in particular jobs and growth. The fiscal compact treaty, which was signed at last week's summit, promotes an austerity-alone approach, which, as we have seen here in the UK, is not the answer to this crisis. This was the treaty over which the Prime Minister so publicly deployed a veto last December at the previous European Council—the veto which was not, in fact, a veto. The treaty, which the Prime Minister told us did not exist as a consequence of using his veto, was in fact signed on Friday by 25 countries. Can the Leader of the House confirm that, for all the Government's claims, both the European Court of Justice and the European Commission will be fully involved in implementing the treaty?

We now know that the United Kingdom has been reduced to relying on the EU Commission to be the last line of defence in the protection of British interests because the Commission, unlike the UK Prime Minister, will actually be involved in all the meetings. Can the Leader of the House tell us how the Government will even find out about the results of the meetings, which will be discussing a whole variety of economic questions that will affect the UK? Of course, it is not just a matter for the Prime Minister, but for anyone else. It should be appropriate that they should be at the Council meetings.

It is a matter of record that the Prime Minister spent Thursday complaining that he felt ignored while the other 25 leaders were preparing to sign the new treaty. Then on Friday the Prime Minister claimed that, in less than 24 hours, his powers of persuasion had once again triumphed. He told us:

“The communiqué has been fundamentally rewritten in line with our demands”.

The Prime Minister said that big strides forward are clear from the communiqué on energy, on microenterprises, on the single market and on reducing trade barriers. Of course, we welcome all efforts to complete the single market, which is so important, as the noble Lord himself said, for retaining and creating jobs in this country. However, can the Leader of the House confirm that the commitment on the energy market was in the conclusions of last February's Council; that the commitments on the single market and trade simply echo those given following the October 2011 Council; and that the supposed progress on microenterprises was in the conclusions of last December's Council?

The primary task facing European leaders at this summit was to enhance the resilience and the capacity of the single currency. The emphasis on growth should have been an integral part of any deal agreed and, had the Prime Minister stayed at the table and fought for what was best for Britain, he could have been pushing this agenda from within the heart of Europe rather than from the sidelines of summits.

The Prime Minister has also failed to get sufficient assurances on the role of the ECB and the working of the eurozone bailout fund that are crucial to any resolution of this crisis. The Prime Minister said on Friday that there was not an air of crisis about the euro. I am glad of that, of course, but does the Leader of the House really think that a sustainable solution has been put in place for the euro area? Can the Leader explain why the Prime Minister did not press those countries with fiscal headroom to help stimulate growth in Europe? Is not the answer that we now have a Prime Minister isolated without influence?

The unanswered question after this summit remains: what exactly did the Prime Minister achieve by walking out of the EU negotiations in December? In fact, what happened is that the Prime Minister secured no additional safeguards to protect British interests, no protections on the single market, no additional safeguards for financial services and not even observer status in future meetings of the 25. The Prime Minister's disregard for diplomacy has meant that the UK's role in future crucial negotiations, in building vital European alliances and in leading in important European debates, has been weakened, not strengthened. Any future battles on single market laws, including financial services regulations, could be harder to win and therefore could leave the City and British business more, not less, vulnerable.

The Prime Minister achieved nothing for Britain at this summit: not one job created; not one family helped; and not one business boosted. The truth is that the Prime Minister is isolated and without influence in Europe as a result of his failure of diplomacy last December. He has now failed to deliver the deal that Europe needed and failed to protect the interests of the UK in the process. We on these Benches believe that Britain's families, communities and businesses deserve better.

[Lord Strathclyde]

Oh dear, my Lords, I was hoping for something rather more positive from the noble Baroness. It would help if the party in Opposition were to rethink its policies on Europe and try to answer some of the questions that she herself has posed. I shall return to that in a moment.

First, I echo her words on Syria and welcome them. Of course, an enormous amount is being done on the ground in that benighted part of the world. It is clear to anyone reading the newspapers and watching television that it is a fast-moving situation which is likely to continue over the course of the next few weeks.

What are we doing about it? Our top priority is to make sure that the humanitarian situation is improved on the ground. The International Development Secretary is planning to speak to the noble Baroness, Lady Amos, today. We believe that she is flying from New York to the region today, expecting to get access to Syria, even though her efforts last week were halted. Our permanent representative to the UN is speaking to the IRCR in New York today. I am sure that my right honourable friend the Prime Minister, who hopes to speak to President Putin—indeed, he may have done so—will raise the issue with him if he has the opportunity.

Obviously, this was a Council meeting that concentrated on the issue of growth and employment. I thought that the noble Baroness was unusually carping about my right honourable friend when she talked about the eurozone agreement that had been signed by the 25. The history of that is well known. She and I have debated this across the Dispatch Box but we still do not know whether, if the Leader of the Opposition had been leading for Britain in the December Council, Mr Miliband would have signed the agreement or not. Increasingly, we believe that he would not have signed it, but we do not know.

[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]

My Lords, my right honourable friend the Leader of the Opposition would have ensured that there was a better deal on the table in the first place. He would not have left an empty chair at all these important Council tables.

[Lord Strathclyde]

My Lords, we have ended up with the best deal for Britain. We have safeguarded Britain’s interests and allowed the countries of Europe to try to solve the problems of the eurozone. We very much support them, not least because we have an absolute interest in their success. We want the euro area to sort out its problems and achieve the stability and growth that all of Europe needs, and we very much welcome the progress that has been made. The European Central Bank has provided extensive additional support to banks, and many euro area countries are taking difficult decisions to address their deficits, and giving up a degree of sovereignty over the future governance of their economies. They also agreed to set up a firewall, and it is entirely right that they should do so. If the noble Baroness regards that as the Prime Minister somehow being isolated in Europe, we shall have to agree to differ, because the safeguards are clearly there.

Some doubt was expressed also on the conclusions of the European Council. The noble Baroness asked whether I could confirm that measures on the energy market, trade, growth and micro-enterprises were all announced at previous EU Councils. That was a perfectly fair and appropriate question, but the fact that they were announced in the past does not mean that it was not necessary to mention them again in this Council. These are all important issues that of course were discussed at previous Councils; but this time the content is more concrete. A year ago, the conclusions talked of the importance of the issues, but not the detail of what was to be agreed. It is now even more urgent, and we have secured more concrete language to put pressure on the Commission.

Of course, the issues of growth and innovation come up every year, and it is a tradition to discuss them at the spring Council. However, the letter that Britain organised and sent to the President of the Commission was last year signed by nine countries and this year by 12, including Italy and Spain. This year’s letter also goes further and discusses financial services and trade. Some similar issues are addressed; for example, the digital single market was included because there has not yet been enough action on that. The conclusions of the Council this time reference all eight of our action points, and there will be a more concrete follow-up.

The background to this Council is extremely well known. It is one of the most economically unstable backgrounds that the European Union has ever faced, and nobody thinks that we are yet out of the woods. However, we seem to be in a period of relative stability, and it was entirely correct that in the Council we should concentrate on improving our competitiveness, employment and growth.