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European Affairs

My right hon. Friend makes an important point. That is a good illustration of how the European Union does not necessarily always get things right and why it should focus on ensuring that it achieves what it can using current powers and existing treaties—doing so properly and correctly instead of making ambitious proposals for new treaties and constitutions. When the Foreign Secretary was recently away in India, the press reported that the Minister for Europe, in what was described as a private speech, suggested that the Government would row in behind the kind of mini treaty favoured by the French, signalling that further vetoes would be given up.