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European Affairs

This is one of those many occasions on which I follow the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash). I did not want to interrupt his speech, but he simply never addresses one point when he talks about parliamentary democracy. By its very nature, Parliament rarely has the means of finding an opinion that is contrary to the Government’s because the party with the most seats forms the Government. It is not undemocratic that the Government win votes, because that is the way in which the process works. I want to ask two questions that are specific to the Council meeting in the hope that the Minister for Europe will be able to address them. In the context of enlargement, will there be any consideration of the problems that giving Kosovo an independent status could cause with Russia? It would be the first state that was not a former nation state to be given independent status, so that could be seen as a green light for some of the rebellious groups on Russia’s borders. Secondly, what progress is being made on the security of energy supply? I find it extraordinary that that is not at the top of the agenda, especially, as we heard earlier, given the quite extraordinary way in which Germany is conducting itself in its dealings with Russia. I look forward to hearing what the Minister will have to say about that when he winds up the debate.