European Council

Gemma Doyle Excerpts

Monday 22nd October 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. In today’s European Union, it is not just the northern countries—the Dutch, the Danes and the British—that are fighting for the single market. Italy is now run by Mario Monti, who is very pro completing the single market; the Spanish, under Mariano Rajoy, support the single market; and the former Baltic states in the east of Europe back this agenda. The balance within the European Council has shifted more in favour of single-market and competitive measures, which is good news for Britain.

[Gemma Doyle (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Prime Minister says that he wants a freeze on the EU budget. Does he think his chances of achieving that are greater when he is in the room negotiating or after he has stormed out in a huff?

[The Prime Minister]

I have never stormed out of any European negotiations, but what I have done is that when a treaty was on the table that was not in British interests, I vetoed it.

When it comes to the future financing framework, I have studied very closely what the last Labour Prime Minister who went through the process did, in 2005. To start with, he said, “I’m not going to sign up to this new financial framework, because it means losing the British rebate.” But then they gave him a bit of pressure, and he completely backed down and gave up almost half the rebate. In return, he got a promise of a discussion on reforming the common agricultural policy, and that discussion never even properly happened.