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Proceeding contribution from Martin Horwood (Liberal Democrat) in the House of Commons on Thursday, 26 January 2012. It occurred during Topical debate and Backbench debate on European Council.


European Council

I shall not be drawn into that. Critically, it is for the eurozone countries to address the crisis in the eurozone. The right hon. Gentleman highlights the important point that just by drawing up a treaty the eurozone countries do not solve some of the rather fundamental problems in the eurozone. In fact, the situation in Greece is becoming increasingly serious and it needs to be urgently addressed—that is even more the case now than in recent months. The importance of the main business of the summit must not be neglected. Britain's re-engagement in European affairs is critical and it must be pushed forward. There have already been some successes. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills helped to create the like-minded growth group, which has pushed forward ideas such as lifting onerous accounting rules from the smallest businesses in this country. I think the group has helped to create a shift in Commission attitudes on the smallest businesses to the point where it has committed to review all existing EU legislation to look for other opportunities to lift onerous regulation from such businesses and to screen new legislation to see whether, wherever possible, the smallest businesses can be excluded. That is exactly the kind of agenda we should be pushing in Europe.


Secondary information

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
539 c442 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
EU countries Economic situation Economic and monetary union UK membership of EU European Council
Link
View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk