§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make it his policy to support(a) the appending of the modified Brussels Treaty to the Constitutional Treaty as an optional protocol and (b) the amendment of the Treaty to oblige the EU Council to make an annual report on its activities in the fields of security and defence to the Assembly, as created by the modified Brussels Treaty and to the European Parliament; and if he will make a statement. [141354]
§ Mr. MacShaneThe UK sees a clear distinction between the role of NATO as the basis of the collective defence of its members and the role of the European Security and Defence Policy as a crisis management instrument in support of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy. As noted in the Government's White Paper on the IGC, we would not support anything in the EU constitution which undermined NATO's security guarantee.
The Government continue to regard national parliaments as having primary responsibility for scrutiny of CFSP and ESDP, given the central role of member states in these policy areas. There is provision in both the Treaty on European Union and in the draft constitution for the European Parliament to be regularly consulted on the main aspects and basic choices of ESDP. The Government are not aware of any proposals to change the status or role of the WEU Assembly, although there might be a case for considering this in the light of the outcome of the Inter-Governmental Conference.