European Council

Ronnie Campbell Excerpts

Monday 17th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The point I would make to my hon. Friend is that there are clearly lively and vigorous debates in eurozone countries, because they are at the sharp end and can see absolutely that there is a battle over national sovereignty, how much say they will have over setting their own budgets and how much of those budgets will be determined by the European Commission. Part of what was discussed by the eurozone at the Council was effectively a set of future contracts whereby countries might have to enter into a contract with the European Commission about their future budgets. There is a very live debate in those countries. We are not in the eurozone, so we are not affected by those contracts, but my argument is that change in the eurozone has knock-on effects for the organisation of which we are a full member and that is why it is so important for us to consider these issues.

[Mr Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley) (Lab)]

But when will the Prime Minister ask the European Council to investigate widespread and endemic corruption in the European Union, as well as endemic fraud, the fact that billions are being thrown down the drain and that accounts have not been signed off for 18 years? What sort of organisation is that to come to us, the British people, and ask us to pay more money in to it?

[The Prime Minister]

I have a lot of sympathy with what the hon. Gentleman says. Europe has been too loose with its money: it has not been properly audited and there has been too much fraud and, as he says, potentially corruption. On the budget negotiations, the European Commission is having to accept for the first time that its ambitions for spending in Europe are completely unrealistic, not only for spending on programmes, but, as it is beginning to see, for spending on itself, too.