Cameron defends EU veto decision

12 December 2011 Last updated at 13:12 ET

 

David Cameron: ''Satisfactory safeguards were not forthcoming and so I did not agree to the treaty''

David Cameron has said he "genuinely looked to reach an agreement" at the EU summit but vetoed treaty change because it was not in the national interest.

Mr Cameron told MPs he negotiated in "good faith" and his demands were "modest, reasonable and relevant".

The prime minister said he used the veto as he did not secure "sufficient safeguards" on financial regulation.

His pro-European Deputy PM Nick Clegg, decided not to take his usual place alongside the PM in the Commons.

Labour leader Ed Miliband questioned why Mr Clegg was not in the Commons, saying the PM could "not even persuade" his deputy of the merits of his actions.

'National interest'

The statement began with Labour MPs shouting "where's Clegg" - and later during the statement Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries accused the Lib Dem leader of "cowardice" while a succession of Labour MPs asked the PM if he knew where Mr Clegg was.

After the Commons statement Mr Clegg told reporters that everyone knew he and prime minister disagreed on the outcome of the summit: "I would have been a distraction if I was there."

He added: "Being isolated as one is potentially bad for jobs, bad for growth, bad for the livelihoods of millions of people in this country, but the coalition government is here to stay."

Nick Clegg: "Being isolated as one is potentially bad... but the coalition government is here to stay."

Giving an account of the decisions he took in Brussels in Friday, Mr Cameron insisted he had agreed his negotiating stance with his Lib Dem partners before the summit and the two parties had to "put aside differences" to work in the national interest.

During rowdy exchanges, Commons Speaker John Bercow has had to intervene on several occasions to restore order.

Explaining his decision to veto the treaty, Mr Cameron said it was "not an easy thing to do but it was the right thing to do".

He said he was faced with the "choice of a treaty without proper safeguards or no treaty and the right answer was no treaty".

He dismissed claims that he had demanded "an opt-out" for the City from EU directives on finance, seeking only proper regulations and a "level playing field" for British business in Europe.

"I went to Brussels with one objective - to protect Britain's national interest. And that is what I did."

He argued: "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 negotiating process.

"I am absolutely clear that it is possible to be a both a full, committed and influential member of the EU but to stay out of arrangements where they do not protect our interests."

'Bad deal'

But Ed Miliband said the PM had gained nothing from the negotiations, saying "it is not a veto when something goes ahead without you, that's called losing".

"He has come back with a bad deal for Britain," he told MPs. "Far from protecting our interests, he has left us without a voice."

Suggesting the outcome was a "diplomatic disaster" for the UK, Mr Miliband said the prime minister "did not want a deal as he could not deliver it through his party".

Mr Cameron repeatedly pressed his Labour counterpart on whether he would have signed the Treaty.

Ed Miliband said the prime minister ''could not persuade his own deputy'' that not signing the treaty was a good outcome

Although the Labour leader to did not directly reply, the BBC's Nick Robinson said Mr Miliband's aides later made it clear he would not have signed it as it stood - but would have stayed in the room and secured a better outcome.

Mr Cameron's efforts were applauded by a succession of eurosceptic Conservative MPs, one - John Redwood - saying he had shown "excellent statesmanship".

"Britain today has much more negotiating strength because they know they are dealing with a prime minister who will say no if he needs to," he said.

But Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood said international investors now needed reassurance that the UK remained "at the heart" of European decision-making while his colleague Jo Swinson accused the PM of "rushing for the exit" rather than trying to secure a consensus.

Plaid Cymru's leader in Westminster, Elfyn Llwyd, accused the PM of putting the interests of the City ahead of the national interest while the SNP's Stewart Hosie said Mr Cameron had not consulted with devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland before using his veto.

The treaty changes needed the support of all 27 EU members, including those not in the euro, such as the UK, to go ahead. It now looks likely that all 26 other members of the European Union will agree to a new "accord" setting out tougher budget rules aimed at preventing a repeat of the current eurozone crisis.

The new accord will hold eurozone members to strict budgetary rules including:

• a cap of 0.5% of GDP on countries' annual structural deficits
• "automatic consequences" for countries whose public deficit exceeds 3% of GDP
• a requirement to submit their national budgets to the European Commission, which will have the power to request that they be revised

French President Nicholas Sarkozy has suggested Friday's outcome signalled "there are now clearly two Europes".

However the deal still has to be agreed by a number of national parliaments, and the reaction of the financial markets suggests it has failed to bring a swift end to the euro crisis.

The BBC's Rob Cameron in Prague said: "Commentators here have taken a more cautious - and arguably more accurate - view, reflecting the fact that the Czechs haven't signed up to anything yet."

The current French presidential front-runner, Socialist Francois Hollande, said on Monday that if he was elected next May he would renegotiate the accord, saying: "This accord is not the right answer."

One of Chancellor Merkel's close aides in the German parliament told the BBC's Stephen Evans he does not see why "Britain should stay isolated".

CDU Chief Whip Peter Altmaier said: "Over the last years there has been very intensive cooperation between the UK and Germany and I'm deeply convinced that this will continue. It will last. We have so much in common and there are so few issues that divide us."

Continue Reading... Labels: Cameron, decision, defends

Obama defends American faith amid GOP critique

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney accuses President Barack Obama of considering America "just another nation." To other GOP politicians running for the White House, Obama has apologized for the United States and is presiding over the nation's decline.

Now comes the counteroffensive.

The president of the United States is defending his faith in America, confronting GOP efforts to undercut his leadership and raise questions about his patriotism as he seeks re-election.

In the battle over "American exceptionalism," Obama used a recent trip to Asia to highlight America's role as the strongest and most influential nation on earth. In this election season, responding to the Republican critique is essential for Obama, the only incumbent ever compelled to show a birth certificate to defend his legitimacy.

"Sometimes the pundits and the newspapers and the TV commentators love to talk about how America is slipping and America is in decline," Obama said Wednesday at a New York fundraiser. "That's not what you feel when you're in Asia. They're looking to us for leadership. They know that America is great not just because we're powerful, but also because we have a set of values that the world admires."

"We don't just think about what's good for us, but we're also thinking about what's good for the world," he said. "That's what makes us special. That's what makes us exceptional."

Republicans have seized on "American exceptionalism," a belief among many in the nation that the U.S. is special among global powers, and tried to portray Obama as expressing ambivalence about the promise of his own country. The message resounds with party activists who still admire President Ronald Reagan, who memorialized America as that "Shining City on a Hill" during the 1980s.

"We have a president right now who thinks America's just another nation. America is an exceptional nation," Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, said during a GOP debate in Las Vegas last month. Even his campaign slogan — "Believe in America" — suggests that the current president doesn't.

Others have tried to use it to their advantage.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, in an interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly last month, said Obama had "traveled around the country making excuses for America, apologizing for America, saying that America is not an exemplary country."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich criticized Obama after 16 Latin American and Caribbean nations filed "friend of the court" briefs in a Justice Department lawsuit against a tough new immigration law in South Carolina, home to an important GOP primary. "It makes you wonder what country does President Obama think he is president of," Gingrich said.

Obama has given detractors ample material for their attacks.

At a San Francisco fundraiser in October, the president talked about the importance of investing in education, new roads and bridges and other ways to build the economy.

"We used to have the best stuff. Anybody been to Beijing Airport lately?" Obama said, asking what has changed. "Well, we've lost our ambition, our imagination, and our willingness to do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge and Hoover Dam." Republicans picked up on the comments, accusing Obama of calling Americans unambitious.

During a meeting with business executives in Honolulu last month, Obama was asked about impediments to investment in the U.S. He said many foreign investors see opportunity here, "but we've been a little bit lazy, I think over the last couple of decades." The "lazy" comments were quickly turned into an attack ad from Perry.

During a 2009 news conference, Obama was asked whether he subscribed to the concept of American exceptionalism. He said he believed in American exceptionalism, "just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."

The president said he was "enormously proud of my country" and highlighted the nation's "core set of values enshrined in our Constitution" that ensure democracy, free speech and equality. Words that voters are likely to hear more of during the next year.

A Gallup poll in December 2010 found that 80 percent of Americans thought the U.S. had a unique character that made it the greatest country in the world. The survey found that 91 percent of Republicans agreed with the statement.

In the same poll, 34 percent of Republicans said Obama believed the U.S. was the greatest country in the world, while 83 percent of Democrats said he did.

The American exceptionalism argument has traditionally signaled U.S. strength overseas and the promotion of American values such as freedom of speech and religion. But with Obama's rise, it has taken on a new meaning.

At a time of economic discord, it builds on the notion that America's weakened economy could hurt its standing across the globe. It offers a critique of Obama's foreign policy credentials, even as troops begin heading home from Iraq and the U.S. role in Afghanistan is transitioning.

It also represents a subtle way to question Obama's patriotism, the seeds of which reside in the "birther" movement that questioned the legitimacy of Obama's presidency. Suspicions over Obama's citizenship eventually prompted the White House to produce the president's long-form birth certificate showing he was born in Hawaii.

Yet Democrats don't see this as a debilitating issue for the president, but more a matter of fodder in the Republican primary. Obama, they say, can draw upon it to show optimism in the country.

"Obama is powerful proof of American exceptionalism, that this country has certain set of ideals," said Democratic consultant Bob Shrum. "His election and his presidency is a testament to the character of the country."

Obama has been assertive in recent weeks about America's unique role in the world as it shifts away from conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. During his nine-day Asian trip last month, the president reiterated the U.S.'s growing role in the region and stressed that "American leadership is still welcome."

___

Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

Continue Reading... Labels: American, critique, defends, faith, Obama