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Sir Patrick Cormack (South Staffordshire): Will the right hon. Lady give serious consideration to bringing the defence procurement debate forward? She has heard from many Conservative Members who have British Aerospace factories in their constituencies. They are asking not for intervention, but for a debate. I happen also to have such a factory in my constituency. Can we please have that debate at an early opportunity?
Will the right hon. Lady think further about the question of a public holiday to celebrate the 100th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen Mother? Such a holiday would have the support of the official Opposition and of the Liberal Democrats. I have consulted the hon. Member for North Cornwall (Mr. Tyler) and he, too, would welcome a positive response.
Mrs. Beckett: Of course I have taken on board the hon. Gentleman's remarks about the defence procurement debate and undertake to consider the matter. With regard to his remarks about a further special holiday to celebrate the Queen Mother's birthday, all I can do is repeat what I said earlier: I will undertake to draw the remarks to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary.
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY DOCUMENTS
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 119(9) (European Standing Committees),
Environmental Liability White Paper
- That this House takes note of European Union Document No. 6230/00, a Commission White Paper on Environmental Liability; and supports the Government's welcome for the publication of the White Paper, its endorsement of the general principle of environmental liability, and its intention to scrutinise the proposals in order to establish implications for existing domestic arrangements and assessment of the full Regulatory Impact Assessment on UK businesses.--[Mr. Sutcliffe.]
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 119(9) (European Standing Committees),
Broad Economic Policy Guidelines
- That this House takes note of European Union Document No. 7828/00, the Commission's Recommendation for the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines for 2000; and supports the Government's welcome for this draft as giving operational content to the conclusions of the Lisbon summit, reflecting the importance of structural reform in tackling successfully the challenges of globalisation and competitiveness, and in promoting employment and social inclusion.--[Mr. Sutcliffe.]
European Affairs
[Relevant documents: Seventeenth Report from the European Scrutiny Committee, on The 2000 Inter-Governmental Conference, HC23-xvii;
No. COM (00) 34, European Commission's Opinion on adapting the institutions to make a success of enlargement;
No. COM (00) 109, Additional Commission contribution to the Inter-Governmental Conference on institutional reform: reform of the Community Courts;
No. COM (00) 114, Supplementary contribution of the Commission to the Inter-Governmental Conference on institutional reform: qualified majority voting for single market aspects in the taxation and social security fields;
Developments in the European Union, July-December 1999 (Cm. 4762);
Minutes of Evidence taken before the Foreign Affairs Committee on 7th June, HC 68-ii; and
Eighth Report from the Defence Committee, on European Security and Defence, HC 264.]
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.--[Mr. Sutcliffe.]
Madam Speaker: I have had to limit Back-Bench speeches to 15 minutes.
1.24 pm
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Robin Cook): Thank you, Madam Speaker.
When the Government took office, we gave a commitment that we would make Britain a leading player in Europe. In the three years since then, we have taken Britain off the sidelines of Europe and made it one of the leading players in the team.
The British Government no longer go to European Councils in the undignified position to which the previous Government were reduced--being the back-seat driver complaining about the direction in which those in charge were going, but never determining it. Britain is now in the driver's seat on the big issues before the European Council. [Interruption.] Hon. Members simply do not want to confront the reality of Europe. At Helsinki, we were in the driving seat on enlargement. We were in the driving seat, at Lisbon, on economic reform. We will again be in the driving seat, at Feira, on European security.
European security is a British initiative. The British Prime Minister launched it at the Portschach summit, and we took it forward in alliance with France and with Germany. Two years later, we can look back with satisfaction on how well that initiative has prospered and at the consensus within Europe that we have built around what was a British idea.
The European Union has helped to make possible half a century of unprecedented peace between its members--[Interruption.] The right hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Mr. Forth) sighs. Most of the rest of Europe is grateful for half a century of unprecedented peace.
Integration between our economies has made unthinkable war between our countries.
Mr. Desmond Swayne (New Forest, West): Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Cook: I shall in a second.
A common commitment to democracy and to the rule of law has promoted stability and placed a barrier in the way of extremism.
Mr. Swayne: Is it not the reality that the Government have conjured up the security agenda because of their lack of progress on leadership on economic matters in Europe, and is not that agenda itself very damaging to NATO--which is precisely the guarantor of the peace in Europe that he has described?
Mr. Cook: There is no conflict between Europe and NATO. Indeed, at Feira, we shall be approving the agreement with NATO.
Mr. Michael Fabricant (Lichfield): Feira?
Mr. Cook: If the hon. Gentleman does not even know where he can find Feira in Europe, I am not sure how he hopes to shape the debate at the European Council at Feira.
Mr. Fabricant: I thought that pharaohs were in Egypt.
Mr. Cook: We know that Conservative Members seem to think that Norway is a member of the European Union, but it is a new one that they think that Egypt is a member.
At Feira, we shall be agreeing to detailed arrangements for co-operation between Europe and NATO. Particularly, we shall approve the basis for participation in European crisis management of the six members of NATO who are European countries but not European Union members. They will have the right to be consulted before the European Union initiates any crisis operation. They will have the right to participate in it, and they will have the same rights in its management as any other participants. [Interruption.]
The right hon. Member for Horsham (Mr. Maude) seems to be unconvinced about whether that is satisfactory. I met all those six countries, at Florence, at the NATO meeting, and they recognise that it is an excellent outcome for them. They also recognise that they would not have achieved that outcome if it had not been for the leading role that Britain played in the security mission.
I know that Conservative Members fret that European security and defence policy might result in conflict with NATO, and the hon. Member for New Forest, West (Mr. Swayne) has just helpfully pointed us to that anxiety. Conservative Members have done their very best to create that conflict with NATO. Their defence spokesman, the hon. Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr. Duncan Smith), toured Washington trying to stir up conflict with NATO. That has, however, always been a misplaced concern. Territorial defence will remain a job only for NATO, and the European Union will launch an intervention only when NATO as a whole is not engaged.
Now that the European Union and NATO have reached a partnership on that, Opposition Members can relax. They can perhaps even--although I recognise that this may be a hope too far--welcome the results of our efforts to achieve stronger European security.
Last Thursday, I saw that the right hon. Member for Horsham claimed that European security and defence policy was inspired--I think that I have his words right--by "a chilling anti-Americanism." [Hon. Members: "Hear, hear."] I see that he carries some of his hon. Friends with him.
Unfortunately for the right hon. Gentleman, in the same week, in the same country, President Clinton said:
- it is a very good thing. There is no contradiction between a strong Europe and a strong transatlantic partnership.
Mr. William Cash (Stone): Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Cook: Yes--the hon. Gentleman may well wish to try to be so.
Mr. Cash: Will the right hon. Gentleman acknowledge that, only yesterday, in conjunction with the European Scrutiny Committee, the Defence Committee presented a report in which it dealt with the matter of the relationship between the North American and European wings of the North Atlantic alliance, saying:
- This is not a new problem, but the new arrangements will create their own new set of tensions. There must be absolute transparency between the EU military element and NATO at all times and in all circumstances. There must be no secrets between them, but each must be able absolutely to rely on the other . . . ?
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