§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department's policy is on the question raised in the note by Mr. M Barnier to Members of the Convention on the Future of Europe, CONV 264/02, as to whether an undertaking of collective defence should be enshrined in the Treaty on European Union. [77819]
§ Mike O'BrienThe Government's policy, and the policy to which the EU collectively committed itself at the European Council of Nice in December 2000, is that NATO remains the basis for the collective defence of its members.