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Mr. Hague: Answer the question.
The Prime Minister: The right hon. Gentleman tells me to answer the question, but I cannot answer that question. I can tell him what is in the country's interest. If we want to get anything through the European Parliament, it is in the country's interest that we should work with others. If his party is so extreme that it cannot work even with other Conservative parties in Europe, that is a sign of how extreme his Government would be, in the unlikely event that he ever formed one.
Mr. Menzies Campbell (North-East Fife): It is clear that the summit in Cologne was extremely successful, but does the Prime Minister accept that its success will be measured in future by the achievements after the summit, rather than by the sincerity of the commitments made in Cologne? That applies particularly to war crimes and debt relief, to which he rightly attaches such importance.
The statement is silent on the matter of humanitarian assistance to the people of Serbia. Does that mean that humanitarian assistance is not barred, so long as it can be regarded as not aiding the survival of the Milosevic regime? The Prime Minister knows that, in Britain especially, people will be anxious to ensure that humanitarian assistance is provided for the people of Serbia, who, through no fault of their own, have found the infrastructure of their country substantially degraded and destroyed.
I welcome the thaw in relations between Russia and the members of the G7. Can the Prime Minister tell the House whether the extension of further financial assistance is justified economically, or is it being given for political reasons, and as a reward for Russia's reluctant agreement over Kosovo?
Finally, it would be churlish not to congratulate the Prime Minister and the Government on their commitment and courage over the past few weeks. May I suggest to him that, with a little more of the same, together we will easily win the campaign for the single currency?
The Prime Minister:
I thank the right hon. and learned Gentleman for those compliments.
With respect to what we do now for Serbia, we have always made it clear that there can be no reconstruction aid for Serbia--humanitarian assistance is governedby different rules, obviously--and the international community should make no commitment to the rebuilding of Serbia while Milosevic remains. It is necessary to send that message out to the Serbian people. They should take account of the fact that the whole world--those in Serbia must also have seen enough--has seen the mass graves uncovered and the appalling racial genocide that was
committed in Kosovo. They have some responsibility to make sure that they send a clear message to their own Government and their own regime.
We were working on a programme for assistance to the economic reform process in Russia before the Kosovo conflict ever began, and it is important that those two things are not seen as trade off against one another. It is in our interest that the Russian economic system is stabilised, and the International Monetary Fund programme has to be agreed and accepted before that assistance is given, but relations were immensely warm at the summit and that was one of the positive aspects that came out of it.
Mr. Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton):
Will my right hon. Friend be a little kinder to the leader of the Conservative party, taking into account that I remember sitting on the Opposition Front Bench throughout the 1980s, revelling and rejoicing in European, local and by-election victories and suffering the defeats in the subsequent general elections? See where I have ended up now. Does my right hon. Friend recall that it fell to me, as shadow Foreign Secretary, to introduce debt relief to the policies of a major political party for the first time? I am therefore deeply gratified that a British Labour Government have made such great advances in respect of debt relief.
On Kosovo--taking into account that not only are the G8 and NATO part of the achievements of the past few days, but that Russia, as advocated by certain Members of the House, and the United Nations, as advocated by certain Members of the House, have been brought on board--has my right hon. Friend received any apologies from those whose only policy was that we should pass by on the other side?
The Prime Minister:
It is my right hon. Friend's birthday today, and we should congratulate him on that.
I am not quite sure where the Leader of the Opposition will end up, provided that he does not end up here. As for the position of the Conservative party on the euro and Europe, it has decided to make itself a single-issue party in respect of its anti-Europeanism, but it is not in the interests of this country to be in such a position. I thank my right hon. Friend for all the work that he has done on debt relief, and an important advance has been made by the incoming Government.
On Kosovo, there are those who have opposed the conflict for perfectly honourable reasons, but I believe that there was a moment of pure choice: we either allowed Milosevic to carry on with ethnic cleansing or we stopped him, and the fact that we stopped him is a great tribute to the international community.
Sir Archie Hamilton (Epsom and Ewell):
The Prime Minister has told the House about the accelerated write-off of debt to the poorest countries. What impact will that have on future flows of aid, both in loan and in grant, to the poorest countries?
The Prime Minister:
It will not affect the aid that we give; but it will make a great deal of difference to the position of those countries as they struggle with the huge burden of debt that they carry. I think we are coming to a better and more mature position in the international
We have learned a lot from aid policies in the past 20 or 30 years. We have learned the lesson that aid is necessary, but we have also learned to make sure that it does not come with strings in respect of the self-interest of the countries giving the aid, but is tied to proper rules and principles that can ensure that the aid is properly used.
Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow):
Given a revanchist Serbia, and given that President Yeltsin will not be in Russia for ever, for how long does the Prime Minister that think our military commitment is likely to continue in substantial numbers: for my lifetime, for his lifetime, or for the lifetime of the youngest among us?
The Prime Minister:
We shall give the military commitment for as long as it takes. In Bosnia, for example, at one point we had more than 11,000 forces; I believe that those are now down to just over 4,000. We have made a substantial commitment to Kosovo, but I believe that, in time, we can reduce that. I think that the chances of getting not what my hon. Friend calls "a revanchist Serbia" but a democratic Serbia will be improved if we send a clear signal to Serbia. It would help if the friends of Serbia--all those who have taken a different view in this conflict--gave it the same message: that, if it embraces the path of democracy, it will find us generous and willing partners.
Sir Brian Mawhinney (North-West Cambridgeshire):
Will the Prime Minister accept that there is much non-partisan appreciation of the moral leadership that he has given within NATO against the evil in Kosovo? Will he also accept that, without the daily impact of war and with the crowding in of other legitimate activities, much more moral leadership will continue to be needed if this matter is to be resolved in terms of the objective that he has set for the House and the country, and that the country will continue to look to him to provide some of that moral leadership?
The Prime Minister:
The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to say that, at the conclusion of this matter, we must not forget the aftermath. As it retreats in the new headlines--it will be there for several weeks, possibly even several months, but there will come a point when it recedes--it is important that we carry out the commitments that we have given to those Balkan countries, particularly the front-line states around Serbia. I entirely agree with the right hon. Gentleman about that. If we renege on that commitment, the chances of our having to repeat this exercise will be greatly increased. Contrariwise, if we carry out that commitment, we shall have the prospect of producing peace in the Balkans for the first time in 100 years.
Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover):
Is my right hon. Friend aware that he should not get too worried about the Johnny-come-latelys and boy scouts in the Opposition in
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