22 October 2007
The Prime Minister has explained the events surrounding the signing of the EU treaty and its implications for the British people.
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In a statement to Parliament, Mr Brown said that he had been able "to ensure that detailed safeguards for the British national interest" were included in the treaty at the two day EU summit in Lisbon last week. These so-called "red lines" will allow the UK to retain sole control in areas relating to UK law, security, foreign and social policy, he said.
Mr Brown explained that the amending treaty will not come into effect until 2014 at the earliest, and that the Government will only ratify the final treaty in a December summit if the protocols and vetoes agreed for the UK "are included in the detail". Those protections include the immunity of UK law from EU changes and the continuation of an EU foreign policy on an "intergovernmental basis".
The PM said:
"The protections we have negotiated defend the British national interest. We are putting in place new procedures to lock in our protection of these interests. We will oppose any further proposals for institutional change in the European Union this Parliament and the next.
"We will lead the debate in Europe to move to a new agenda of new priorities that focus on the economic and social needs of our citizens."
The Government outlined its vision for the new EU priorities in a report titled "Global Europe" released today, while the EU amending treaty will now be put to Parliament for debate before ratification can go ahead.
The Prime Minister and other EU leaders signed the amending treaty following discussions at the EU Council summit in Lisbon, Portugal on 18 and 19 October. The reform treaty was drawn up after negotiations were concluded in a June meeting in Brussels on how to proceed in light of the failure of the EU constitution.
The constitution was abandoned after voters in France and Holland rejected it by referendum in 2005.
Image copyright: Reuters
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