Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-27-Speech-3-044"
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"en.20070627.6.3-044"2
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"Mr President, Chancellor, President Barroso, I am not going to try my German out today. Others have done it much better than I could. As the German Presidency comes to an end, I start by congratulating the Chancellor on her very successful pursuit of the climate change agenda over the past six months. The European Council Agreement in March regarding targets for a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, compared to 1990, was a historic one and we in the British Conservative Party particularly support this initiative very strongly.
As to the European Council last weekend, we have heard many different interpretations about the outcome of the Summit. In the United Kingdom, reactions to the outcome have not, of course, been universally supportive. Prime Minister Blair, who leaves 10 Downing Street today, maintains that the draft reform Treaty bears little resemblance to the constitutional text that preceded it. Yet many of his fellow Heads of Government have contradicted him: the Irish Taoiseach and Finland’s Europe Minister have said so, for instance – indeed the latter has said that there is nothing from the original institutional package that has been changed. So when our Prime Minister says that the two cannot be readily compared, I think the British people can be forgiven for feeling doubtful about what the British Government has actually signed. As Mr Blair promised the people of Britain a referendum in his last election manifesto, I really do believe it is incumbent upon his successor, Gordon Brown, to uphold that pledge.
Chancellor, I would also like to have one area of clarification on the point about the wide reports that the pursuit by the EU of free and undistorted competition has been undermined in the draft mandate for the IGC. I also hear, however, that a protocol has now been annexed to make clear that the Union is indeed totally committed to competition and free markets. There are reports that the German Finance Minister was himself concerned at the change. He is quoted as saying, ‘I see this with a certain scepticism. If things go on like this, I see a risk’. To many British people, the internal market and a genuinely competitive economy form a vital basis for their support for Britain’s membership of the Union, and they would rightly be concerned at any attempt to undermine that. I would be most grateful if the Chancellor could give reassurances to me on that point."@en1
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