Noticias

What the Brussels Summit Means for Britain

As anyone who picked up a newspaper recently knows, British Prime Minister David Cameron Vetoed EU Treaty Change

So what does this mean for the UK? Will the country be leaving the single market?

Here we have an extract of Cameron’s speech following the summit, explaining how he intends to move forward and what conclusions we can draw from recent events:

We would like to thank the British Embassy in Mexico for sending us this information

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR BRITAIN

Mr Speaker, Britain remains a full member of the European Union and the events of the last week do nothing to change that. Our membership of the EU is vital to our national interest.

We are a trading nation and we need the single market for trade, investment and jobs. The EU makes Britain a gateway to the largest single market in the world for investors. It secures more than half of our exports and millions of British jobs and membership of the EU strengthens our ability to progress our foreign policy objectives too giving us a strong voice on the global stage in issues such as trade, and as we have seen in Durban this weekend, climate change,

So we are in the European Union and we want to be. This week there will be meetings on the councils on Transport, Telecommunications and Energy, and Agriculture and Fisheries. Britain will be there as a full member at each one.

But I believe in an EU with the flexibility of a network, not the rigidity of a bloc. We’re not in the Schengen no borders agreement and neither should we be because it is right that we should use our natural geographical advantage as an island to protect us against illegal immigration, guns and drugs. We’re not in the Single Currency and while I am Prime Minister we will never join.

We are not in the new Euro area bailout funds, even though we had to negotiate our way out it and we are not in this year’s Euro-Plus pact.

When the Euro was created, the previous government agreed there would need to be separate meetings of Eurozone Ministers. It is hardly surprising that those countries required by Treaty to join the Euro chose to join the existing Eurozone members in developing future arrangements for the Eurozone. Those countries are going to be negotiating a treaty that passes unprecedented powers from their nation states to Brussels. Some will have budgets effectively checked and re-written by the European Commission.

None of this will happen in Britain.

But just as we wanted safeguards for Britain’s interests if we changed the EU treaty, so we will continue to be vigilant in protecting our national interests. An intergovernmental treaty, whilst it doesn’t carry with it the same dangers for Britain, nonetheless is not without risks. The decision of the new Eurozone-led arrangement is a discussion that is just beginning. We want the new Treaty to work in stabilising the Euro and putting it on a firm foundation and I understand why they would want to use the institutions. But this is new territory and does raise important issues which we will need to explore with the Euro plus countries.

The UK is very supportive of the role the institutions – and the commission in particular – play in safeguarding the Single Market. So we will look constructively at any proposals with an open mind. But let’s be clear about one thing: if Britain had agreed Treaty change without safeguards, there would be no discussion, Britain would have no protection.

WHERE NEXT

The most pressing need is to fix the problems of the Euro which involves far more than simply greater medium term fiscal integration. Above all the Eurozone needs to focus at the very least on implementing its October agreement. The markets want to be assured that the Eurozone firewall is big enough, that Europe’s banks are being adequately recapitalised and that the problems in countries like Greece have been properly dealt with.

There was some progress at the Council. The Eurozone countries noted the possibility of additional IMF assistance. Our position on IMF resources remains the one I set out at the Cannes G20 summit. Alongside non-European G20 countries, we are ready to look positively at strengthening the IMF’s capacity to help countries in difficulty across the world. But IMF resources are for countries not currencies, and can’t be used specifically to support the Euro.

There also needs to be greater competitiveness between the countries of the Eurozone. But let’s be frank – the whole of Europe needs to become more competitive. That is the way to more jobs and growth. Many Eurozone countries have substantial trade deficits as well as budget deficits. If they are not to be reliant on massive transfers of capital they need to become more competitive and trade out of those deficits.

The British agenda has always been about improving Europe’s competitiveness. And at recent councils we have achieved substantial progress on completing the single market in services, opening up our energy markets and exempting microbusinesses from future regulations. This has been done by working in partnership with a combination of countries that are in the Eurozone and outside it. We will continue to work with like-minded countries to push forward this agenda.

On defence, Britain is an absolutely key European player whether leading the NATO Rapid Reaction Force…or tackling piracy in the Indian Ocean. And our partnership with France was crucial in taking action in Libya. Britain will continue to form alliances on the things we want to get done.

And at this council, we all celebrated the signing of Croatia’s accession Treaty. That’s one European Treaty I was happy to sign.

CONCLUSION

I do not believe there is a binary choice for Britain: that we can either sacrifice the national interest on issue after issue or lose our influence at the heart of Europe’s decision-making processes.  I am absolutely clear that it is possible both to be a full, committed and influential member of the European Union and to stay out of arrangements where we cannot protect our interests. That is what I have done at this Council. That is what I will continue to do as long as I am Prime Minister. It is the right course for this country.