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European Council

On the latter point the answer is yes. We have set a target of 2013 on international development. The arrangement by EU Development Ministers—the agreement to double aid and increase it by $40 billion—is an indication of Europe working well together, and one should not lose sight of that. The important thing is to present the case for reform in Europe from a pro-European perspective. The Leader of the Opposition did not do a great deal of this when he spoke earlier—and that was the right thing for him to do—but if we were to make the case for change in Europe simply on a traditional Eurosceptic basis, it would carry no conviction at all. It is important to realise that it would not carry conviction with the new countries that are our allies on that. Towards the end of the evening, at one point there were offers by east European countries to pay even more into the budget if that would help to get a deal, but I made the point then—and I repeat it publicly—that there was no way that Britain was asking the east European countries to stump up more money. That was not the issue, and it is important that people in Europe understand that. The issue was the distribution of wealth among the wealthy countries and how it was divided up on a fair basis, with a proper budget. Let me just make this point to the right hon. Gentleman finally: it has again been said that we never made the case for the reform of the common agricultural policy until a couple of weeks ago. I do not have to hand all the times that I have made that case at the Dispatch Box, but I think Britain has been arguing the case for CAP reform for a very long time. We should not allow those people who are opposed to our position in Europe somehow to put away the idea and have it running throughout the European Union that we only raised the CAP a couple of weeks ago. We have never stopped raising the CAP, but if people wanted to make changes to the British rebate, it is obviously right that we deal with the underlying reasons for that. It is true that the amount spent on the CAP has come down significantly over the past 20 years. It was well over 65 per cent.; it is now just over 40 per cent., but that is still far too much for a policy that, in today’s world, does not really correspond with the needs of the European economy. Let me just make this point as well: we do not and did not say either, as was being said by some other countries, that somehow, last Friday, we thought we could renegotiate the entire change in the CAP. That is not what we were asking for. What we are asking for is a fundamental reassessment that allows us to change this coming financial perspective. If we do not do that, it will be 2014 before we get any proper change in the European Union, and that is too long to wait.