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Baroness Amos: My Lords, I begin by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, and the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, for their comments, particularly with respect to the Black Watch. Our hearts go out to all the families.
I shall go through the issues raised in order. The noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, asked about the security situation in Iraq and asked specifically what the European Union would be doing about it. The noble Lord will know that the European Union has made a commitment to provide immediate financial and personnel support to assist the election process in Iraq. In addition, a commitment was made at the weekend to deploy a planning team by the end of the month to scope out an EU police training and rule of law mission. Other commitments were made with respect to enhancing our trade and political co-operation—but the issue of police training answers the noble Lord's point about security.
The latest news on Mr Arafat is that his condition remains critical. We all agree with the statements that were made by my right honourable friends the
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Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary and, indeed, my noble friend Lady Symons, and all wish him a speedy recovery.
The noble Lord Strathclyde, and the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, both referred to Iran. The United Kingdom and the EU believe that it is vital that Iran takes steps to build confidence in the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme. It must comply with successive IAEA board resolutions, including putting in place full suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities. That would help to build the confidence of the international community in the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme.
The noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, raised the issue of Ukraine. We, together with the European Union, have called upon Ukraine to remedy the shortcomings identified by the OSCE in the first round of its presidential elections on 31 October, before the run-off ballot on 21 November. It is clear that that second round offers an opportunity to Ukraine to demonstrate its commitment to internationally recognised democratic standards and European values.
The noble Lord also asked about Côte d'Ivoire, which was not, I believe, discussed at the Council meeting. He will know that we are concerned about the government's breach of the ceasefire and the violence in Abidjan. We deeply regret the deaths of nine French peacekeepers and, with our UN Security Council partners, have condemned the breach of the ceasefire, calling for an immediate end to military action and a resumption of the peace process.
I pick up on the noble Lord's point on Zimbabwe—and I would have been very surprised if he had not raised that matter. We continue to be concerned about the food shortages in Zimbabwe and the way in which the government there are using food as a political tool. Of course we have kept up the pressure, with our European Union partners, the United States and others, but the noble Lord will be aware that we must be very careful about the way in which UK pressure is used in a negative way politically in Zimbabwe itself.
The noble Lord raised the issue of Sudan. The European Union continues to play a central role in the resolution of the conflict in Darfur and Sudan. The noble Lord will know that the EU presidency issued a statement on behalf of the EU condemning the forced relocations of 2 November in southern Darfur. We are deeply concerned about that situation ourselves, and there has been press reporting of that. We have made it clear to the government of Sudan that on a bilateral basis they must involve the UN, the international organisations for migration and others, to ensure that all returns are voluntary and appropriate.
The noble Lord knows full well that we have made a commitment to having a referendum. There has been speculation in the press that one will take place in early 2006; indeed, my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary has speculated that it will take place then. That commitment remains.
The noble Baroness, Lady Williams, was positive about the role that the Government have played on asylum and immigration and law and order, and I
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thank her for her words. She is entirely right: of course we need to co-operate and, of course, the European Union has a responsibility, as does the United Kingdom, as regards its international obligations with respect to asylum seekers. But we also have a responsibility as a country to deal with the issue of failed asylum seekers—and the European Union has that responsibility, too. That is why we have made it absolutely clear that we will not lose control of our asylum and immigration policy. The opt-in protocol we negotiated at Amsterdam remains. It is not under threat. It will not be eroded. Noble Lords may wish to consider what has happened over the past five years when we have successfully used our opt-in, retaining our border controls but co-operating with our EU partners. As the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, said, it is clear that immigration and asylum demand international solutions. We, of course, want to continue to influence EU immigration and asylum work. The noble Baroness said it was important that we accepted our fair proportion. It is clear that this Government accept their responsibilities in that regard. I do not agree with the way that this was put by the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, but I do not think he expected me to agree with him on those points.
On Iraq, the noble Baroness, Lady Symons, raised concerns about Fallujah and the importance of having free, fair and open elections. That is absolutely the point. That is what we want to achieve and it is absolutely what the Iraqi Interim Government want to achieve. Prime Minister Allawi's statements on that make that absolutely clear. My noble friend Lady Symons repeated some of his words today. I, too, repeat them. Prime Minister Allawi said:
"I have reached a conviction that we have no other option but to take necessary measures to protect the Iraqi people from these killers and to liberate the Fallujans so that they will go back, back to their homes and lead a normal life . . . There is a division between the Iraqi people and the terrorists, we are after terrorists we are not after anybody else and all the Iraqi people including people in Fallujah . . . want us to go ahead and finish the terrorists and have the rule of law prevail in Fallujah and this is what we intend to do".
The commitment to having elections in January remains.
Of course, the security situation remains a matter of grave concern because if the security situation is not controlled it raises questions about the extent to which elections can be held across the entire country. That is why Prime Minister Allawi, we, the Americans and others take this so seriously.
The noble Baroness, Lady Williams, congratulated the Government on what they are trying to do in Iran. I am afraid that at this point in time I cannot add to that. However, if I have further information I shall, of course, write to the noble Baroness. The noble Baroness pressed very hard on the Middle East peace process. That is something that she has raised many times at the Dispatch Box. The noble Baroness will know that my right honourable friend the Prime Minister has said that now that the US elections have concluded this is something he will take up as a matter of urgency. It will be a key element of the agenda later this week. We have made our views absolutely clear
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with respect to the barrier and the road map. We have said that the construction of the barrier on occupied land and Israeli settlement activity risk jeopardising the two state solution. The barrier, settlement construction and road building are effectively carving up the West Bank. As we have said repeatedly, building a barrier on occupied land is unlawful.
We are also concerned about continuing settlement activity in the West Bank and Israeli plans to expand settlements further. We have repeatedly pressed Israel to freeze settlement construction and we will continue to do that. With respect to the road map, this remains the best way forward in the peace process. I do not think that anyone is under any illusions about the effort needed by the parties to implement it but the obligations are fair on both sides.
Finally, I turn to the Lisbon process. The noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, pressed the issue of regulations in relation to that. The noble Lord will know that there have been a number of initiatives focused on making business more effective. We recognise that we need effective and efficient regulation to make the markets work properly. We are leading the regulatory reform effort.
On the wider questions raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, of course there are problems with respect to moving to higher productivity and greater competitiveness. These have been identified in Wim Kok's report but our commitment to the Lisbon process remains very strong.
Lord Lea of Crondall: My Lords, is it not fair to say there is a danger that some of the comments about the EU not doing enough in many parts of the world such as Darfur result in some people wanting to have it both ways? One minute we are asked to believe that the EU is getting ideas above its station but right through this Statement there has been example after example of where the EU needs to do more.
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