European Council

Robin Walker Excerpts

Monday 17th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am happy to repeat that we are against the idea of an operational headquarters. This came up again tangentially at the European Council, with some attempts to change the language about what was required, and I said that that was not acceptable. The focus of the European Council conclusions is rightly about capacity. We are all interested in European countries having greater capacity to deal with these issues, but we do not want duplication of headquarters and challenges to NATO.

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

May I welcome the Prime Minister’s very clear statement that we will never support a European army? In an increasingly multi-polar and fast-changing world, and given his answer to the question about Commonwealth trading, does he agree that it would also be against Britain’s interests as a trading nation to give up its independent foreign policy and support a full common foreign policy?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. I think we can have the best of both worlds, where we work with European partners to have common positions on issues such as sanctions against Iran or Syria, which can maximise our potential and our influence; but, at the same time, we are an independent power and are able to have independent policies and forge independent relations with some of the fastest-growing countries of the world, and we should continue to do that.