Tunisia, and European Council

Ian Paisley Excerpts

Monday 29th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Different European countries have different views about integration—some sign up absolutely to the idea of ever closer union and want every country to take every step pretty much at the same time—but there is a growing awareness in Europe that actually we can have a Europe with different forms of membership. As I said, some countries are in the euro and some are out, and some are in Schengen and some are out, and when we sit round the table discussing issues such as Libyan security, some countries will be leading members of NATO and some will be neutral and not members of NATO. I think we should be relaxed about this flexibility and encourage it still further.

[Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP)]

This atrocity awakens and provokes many hideous memories of atrocities of mass murder in my own country—Ballykelly, La Mon, Warrenpoint or any of the other countless atrocities that have taken place. I therefore welcome the Prime Minister’s statement, the grief he has publicly put on record and the fact that on Friday we will be able, as a nation, to pay tribute with a minute of respect. How much of the aid currently given to Tunisia is being directed towards the education of people there away from fundamentalist beliefs?

[The Prime Minister]

Not enough. The aid and assistance has been much more focused on building up Tunisian democracy and the institutions of this fledgling democracy. Given the scale of the threat, however, we will have to look again at these partnership programmes, and obviously education should be part of that, bearing in mind the danger of radicalisation, which the Tunisians are looking at themselves. In addition, these countries often have parts that are quite wealthy and successful and parts that are falling behind, and we need to address that challenge, too.