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Ministerial statement on Monday, 19 December 2005, in the House of Commons, led by Tony Blair.

European Council

Statement on the European Council meeting in Brussels on 15-16 December 2005.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
440 c1563-80 
Session
2005-06
Department
Prime Minister
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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Written statements
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Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 440 c1565 (Link to this contribution) Order. Mr. Bellingham, you are out of order, and you are not the only one. After the Prime Minister ...
Tony Blair | 440 c1563-5 (Link to this contribution) With permission, Mr. Speaker, I should like to make a statement about the European Council in Brusse...
Show all contributions (73)
Dari Taylor | 440 c1572 (Link to this contribution) "““Countries such as Poland are crying out for investment in their infrastructure, and wise use of s...
Tony Blair | 440 c1572 (Link to this contribution) Virtually whatever we might do, the hon. Gentleman will think the same, which is no surprise as we h...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 440 c1570 (Link to this contribution) As it is the season of good will and new-found co-operation across the parties, when my right hon. F...
Tony Blair | 440 c1570 (Link to this contribution) Which is why the rebate is rising, not falling.
Lord Bannside | 440 c1571 (Link to this contribution) The Prime Minister mentioned that there was a discussion at the talks of terrorism and the counter-t...
Tony Blair | 440 c1571 (Link to this contribution) On that last point, although it is obviously not the issue of the statement, I am looking at what mo...
William Cash | 440 c1572 (Link to this contribution) In those heady days in 1997, I suggested to the Prime Minister that he was walking on water now but ...
Tony Blair | 440 c1571 (Link to this contribution) In respect of the first point, it is important that people understand that if we support enlargement...
Lord Howard of Lympne | 440 c1570 (Link to this contribution) Did not the Prime Minister know about the costs of enlargement when he told the House in June that h...
Tony Blair | 440 c1570 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. As I said a moment or two ago, it would have been disastrous for...
Stuart Bell | 440 c1570 (Link to this contribution) Would it not have been absolutely shameful for this Government not to have agreed under their pres...
Tony Blair | 440 c1567-8 (Link to this contribution) No, we are not, for the very simple reason that the direction of Europe is towards enlargement. That...
Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton | 440 c1565-7 (Link to this contribution) This was the year that Europe needed to change direction; this was the year that the people of Europ...
Tony Blair | 440 c1565 (Link to this contribution) And we have delivered an EU budget deal that is €160 billion cheaper than the original Commission pr...
Tony Blair | 440 c1569-70 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his general welcome for what we have done. One can only imagine...
Charles Kennedy | 440 c1568-9 (Link to this contribution) As the Prime Minister knows, the Liberal Democrat party has consistently supported the enlargement o...
Tony Blair | 440 c1568 (Link to this contribution) It is actually worse than that. If the Conservatives withdraw from the EPP, Jean-Marie Le Pen will s...
Speaker | 440 c1568 (Link to this contribution) Order. If hon. Members stop shouting, I would be able to hear what the Prime Minister has to say.
Tony Blair | 440 c1574-5 (Link to this contribution) I can tell my hon. Friend that it was in respect of the remarks about holocaust denial, as we had al...
Peter Viggers | 440 c1575 (Link to this contribution) These proposals have enormous financial implications, so what opportunity will the House have to deb...
Tony Blair | 440 c1575 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that there will be plenty of opportunity to debate them. It would be nice if at least one ...
Ed Balls | 440 c1575 (Link to this contribution) Given that in the 21 years since the rebate was first negotiated in 1984, we have yet to see any fun...
Tony Blair | 440 c1574 (Link to this contribution) I certainly will. My hon. Friend is right that it is important for us to keep up the pressure during...
Marquess of Lothian | 440 c1574 (Link to this contribution) For all his histrionics, is the Prime Minister really impervious to the feelings of betrayal among t...
Tony Blair | 440 c1574 (Link to this contribution) I was pleased when the right hon. and learned Gentleman got to his feet, because I have a quotation ...
Louise Ellman | 440 c1574 (Link to this contribution) The Prime Minister has reported that Iran was condemned for its President’s recent remarks about Isr...
Hugh Bayley | 440 c1574 (Link to this contribution) We all know who was responsible for blocking cuts in European agriculture subsidies, and it was not ...
Tony Blair | 440 c1574 (Link to this contribution) I have made clear what we can and cannot do in respect of the structural funds. Incidentally, the fi...
Doug Henderson | 440 c1573 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the barmy army on the Opposition Benches does not understand the importance of reaching a bu...
Tony Blair | 440 c1573 (Link to this contribution) I simply point out that in each of the central and eastern European countries, as my hon. Friend rig...
Tony Blair | 440 c1573 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman says from a sedentary position that that is nothing to do with it. The prob...
Iain Duncan Smith | 440 c1572 (Link to this contribution) Back in June, the French were in disarray, President Chirac had lost the referendum on the constitut...
Tony Blair | 440 c1572-3 (Link to this contribution) How does the right hon. Gentleman therefore explain that France will pay more than Britain in the ne...
Tony Blair | 440 c1572 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says from a sedentary position that we are in government, as if that is the answe...
Alex Salmond | 440 c1573-4 (Link to this contribution) The wealthy countries may well be paying more, but they are also getting more. Will the Prime Minist...
Tony Blair | 440 c1572 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right that Poland stands to gain about €60 billion in economic development funds o...
Angela Eagle | 440 c1577 (Link to this contribution) May I warmly congratulate my right hon. Friend on his skill in bringing to a successful conclusion t...
Speaker | 440 c1577 (Link to this contribution) Order. That will do. Other hon. Members want to get in.
Tony Blair | 440 c1578 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that question and she is right to say that there will be a big transfer o...
David Curry | 440 c1578 (Link to this contribution) What steps can the Prime Minister take to ensure that the Doha trade round does not drift into failu...
Tony Blair | 440 c1578 (Link to this contribution) I actually think that the opposite is true. Obviously, it is important that we do everything we can ...
Jim Sheridan | 440 c1578 (Link to this contribution) Can my right hon. Friend assure the House that the additional resources afforded to our eastern Euro...
Speaker | 440 c1577 (Link to this contribution) I call Mike Penning.—[Interruption.] I mean Mr. Brian Binley.
Tony Blair | 440 c1577 (Link to this contribution) Actually, as a result of the agreement, we start off with a zero percentage of the costs of enlarg...
Brian Binley | 440 c1577 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful, Mr. Speaker; you may call me what you wish. There is clearly going to be a shor...
Richard Shepherd | 440 c1576 (Link to this contribution) When the Prime Minister made a statement to the House and stressed that the rebate was non-negotiabl...
Tom Levitt | 440 c1575-6 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that we had a rebate in the first place only because others acknowle...
Speaker | 440 c1576 (Link to this contribution) Order. One supplementary question is fine.
Tony Blair | 440 c1576 (Link to this contribution) Except that the rebate is rising and we have to pay our fair share of enlargement. But anyway, let m...
Tony Blair | 440 c1575 (Link to this contribution) I do not know the exact details, but perhaps I can write to the hon. Gentleman on that matter. Overa...
John Pugh | 440 c1575 (Link to this contribution) What provision is made in the settlement for structural funds received by Cornwall and Merseyside?
Tony Blair | 440 c1575 (Link to this contribution) The important thing is that the Commission’s review will relate to the whole of the budget, includin...
Tony Blair | 440 c1580 (Link to this contribution) From what the hon. Gentleman is saying and from what the Conservatives are saying, they would not pa...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 440 c1580 (Link to this contribution) I note that the Chancellor has left the Chamber. Is that because he wants to lock the Treasury again...
Tony Blair | 440 c1578 (Link to this contribution) I assure my hon. Friend that the rules that apply mean that the economic development of those countr...
Edward Leigh | 440 c1578-9 (Link to this contribution) Would it be a fair summary to say that originally we were not going to give up any of the rebate, th...
Tony Blair | 440 c1579 (Link to this contribution) I have just read out what I said six months ago, and that is not an accurate summary of what I said....
Tony Lloyd | 440 c1579 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend rightly pointed out that our natural allies in central Europe would have felt b...
Tony Blair | 440 c1579 (Link to this contribution) As I understand it, the position of the Opposition is that they would withdraw from the Conservati...
David Heathcoat-Amory | 440 c1579-80 (Link to this contribution) This descent by the Prime Minister from tough talking in advance to concessions and surrender is suc...
Wayne David | 440 c1580 (Link to this contribution) As part of this agreement, west Wales and the Valleys will receive £1.3 billion in structural fund a...
Tony Blair | 440 c1580 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman and I just have a fundamental disagreement about Europe. I happen to beli...
Tony Blair | 440 c1580 (Link to this contribution) Of course, which is another reason why it is a good deal and I thank my hon. Friend for reminding me...
Tony Blair | 440 c1576 (Link to this contribution) There is a simple way of testing the proposition that my hon. Friend has rightly raised. Between 198...
Mike Gapes | 440 c1576-7 (Link to this contribution) The Prime Minister referred to the importance of our relations with the 10 new member states of the ...
Tony Blair | 440 c1570-1 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for what she said. It is obviously extremely important that we begin Turkey’s...
Tony Blair | 440 c1577 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is of course absolutely right and that is another reason why this agreement is so imp...
Lord McFall of Alcluith | 440 c1571 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the Prime Minister on achieving a deal that ensures that enlargement goes on. Does he...
Subjects
EU enlargement European Union EU budget EU economic policy Rebates Reform Common agricultural policy European Council
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