Prime Minister's Statement to Parliament
Published Monday 17th December 2001
Prime Minister, Rt Hon Tony Blair MP
The Prime Minister gave the following Statement to Parliament on Monday
17 December 2001:
With permission, Mr Speaker, I shall make a statement on the European
Council which took place in Belgium on 14 and 15 December.
The fight against terrorism remains uppermost in the minds of all the
members of the European Union. There remains unanimous support for the
military action which has been taken in Afghanistan and a determination
to continue our efforts to root out the Al Qaida terrorist network. The
recent video of Bin Laden demonstrates his guilt beyond any reasonable
doubt. It brought home the sheer evil of Bin Laden and his followers and
their sick pleasure in the murders which they committed. No-one can now
dispute that ridding the world of the Al Qaida terrorist network is a
job in the interests of us all.
The European Council welcomed the Bonn agreement between the Afghan
groups. It gave strong support for the deployment of an international
security assistance force authorised by the UN Security Council, as
called for by the Afghan parties in the Bonn Agreement. The details of
such a force must await the outcome of the meetings in Kabul between an
international military team led by Major General McColl and the interim
authorities in Afghanistan. But I can tell the House the following.
Britain is willing, in principle, to lead such a force. It is likely to
comprise troops from various countries, European and others. Friday's
meeting of potential troop-contributing nations was attended by a number
of EU countries as well as Argentina, Australia, Canada, the Czech
Republic, Jordan, Malaysia, Turkey and the US. The British contingent is
likely to be up to 1,000-1,500, though I stress that is not yet decided.
We expect the resolution to be passed by the UNSC later this week. The
US has given its full help and support for the security force. We would
hope to have lead elements in place shortly.
This force was a critical part of the agreement reached in Bonn on 5
December for the establishment of a Provisional Government in
Afghanistan. There has been a brilliant victory over the Taleban, who
have ceased to be the Afghan Government. That is a welcome liberation.
But we know that is only the start of enabling Afghanistan to cease
being a failed state and become a responsible partner in the region. The
situation in Afghanistan remains fragile; the new political process
remains in its infancy. There is therefore an urgent need to ensure
that, as the war is being won, we play our part in securing the peace.
The European Council took stock of European Security and Defence Policy.
We are determined to finalise soon the EU's arrangements with NATO. That
will enhance the EU's capability to carry out crisis management
operations over the full range of the so-called Petersberg tasks.
The European Council met amid continuing and appalling violence in the
Middle East. In our view, and that of all our partners, the only basis
for peace in the Middle East is full recognition of Israel's right to
live in peace and security and the establishment of a viable Palestinian
State. The members of the European Council will continue to do all that
they can individually and through the good offices of the
Secretary-General, Javier Solana, to whom I pay tribute, to help create
the circumstances in which the violence can be halted and the dialogue
resumed.
Mr Speaker, the European Council's other main purpose was to prepare for
discussion on the future of Europe. It now looks increasingly likely as
if ten new countries will join the European Union in 2004. We welcome
that. Their accession will contribute to peace, stability and prosperity
in Europe - ours as well as theirs. But it is obvious that the European
Union cannot, with 25 and more members, work in the same way, with
precisely the same constitution, as it has with 15. Decision-making will
need to be streamlined. EU laws will need increasingly to take the form
of framework legislation, with the details of implementation left to the
member states. It is already the task of the European Council to give
strategic direction to the European Union as a whole. But carrying that
strategic direction into practice will mean looking again at the size
and role of the Commission, reviewing the workings of the existing
Presidency of the Union, which presently changes hands every six months,
and managing the business of the various specialist Councils in a more
coherent way. That was why, at Nice, a year ago, when we opened the way
for enlargement, we also agreed that there should be another
Intergovernmental Conference in 2004 and why now we are going to set up
a Convention to prepare for that Conference by detailed examination of
all these issues.
The basic agenda for that Conference was agreed at Nice. The sort of
questions which will need to be asked are set out in the Declaration of
Heads of Government issued at Laeken at the weekend.
That Declaration, which I welcome, acknowledges the contribution which
the European Union has made to peace, stability and prosperity in all
our countries, but also the extent to which it has to deliver results to
its citizens on jobs, the single market, the fight against crime, a safe
environment. The British view, widely shared, is that while it is right
to co-operate ever more closely with our partners, democratic
accountability is fundamentally and ultimately rooted in the Member
State. As the Declaration says, what Europe's citizens expect is "more
results, better responses to practical issues and not a European
superstate or European institutions inveigling their way into every nook
and cranny of life".
The Laeken Declaration, and the Convention, give us the opportunity to
take a serious look at the division of competences between the Union and
the Member States. For the first time in the Union's history we shall be
looking at the prospect of restoring some tasks to the Member States. We
now also have the chance to open up the European institutions to greater
public scrutiny. And the role which I want to see our Parliament playing
in policing that process is now explicitly recognised.
The Convention which we have now established will be chaired by former
French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing who, when President of France,
played an instrumental role in bringing the European Council into being.
It will work for a year. Each national parliament will have two
representatives as members of the Convention. The regions will be
represented as observers and there will be ample opportunity for views
from all sectors of public opinion to be fed into the proceedings.
Consultations will, of course, be held in the usual way on who our
Parliamentary representatives will be. The Convention will present
options to Heads of Government who will determine whether those options
should lead to changes in the Treaty. Those changes would be made by
unanimous agreement of governments.
In the aftermath of 11 September, the European Council welcomed the
agreement that has been reached on a European arrest warrant. We also
agreed to give fresh impetus to delivering our objectives on asylum and
illegal immigration. That will mean return agreements with third
countries; a new agreement on handling asylum seekers, including common
standards on asylum procedures and reception. We have agreed to improve
co-operation on our external border controls. These are all areas where
we need common action within Europe, and the strength of a united
European approach in dealing with the rest of the world. I hope we shall
see agreements concluded in the coming year on all these points.
Once again at this Council, Britain played its full part constructively
and achieved the outcome it desired. Europe faces huge challenges ahead,
as it enlarges to 25 and, over time, to more than 30 countries covering
territory from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, with 500 million citizens
in the EU: challenges over the completion of the single market with a
single currency; over economic reform; over making European security and
foreign policy work; over giving Europe the institutional framework to
allow it to function effectively. These debates matter to Europe. They
matter fundamentally to Britain. The days of isolationism are gone. Our
role now is to be a leading partner in shaping the Europe of the future,
not following reluctantly the shape moulded by others. We are playing
that role now. We will continue to do so.
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