Single European Foreign Policy

HC Deb 01 November 2000 vol 355 c536W

Dr. Julian Lewis

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on the development of a single European foreign policy. [135021]

Mr. Vaz

The Government want Europe to have a strong voice in international affairs and are committed to pursuing this through the intergovernmental mechanisms of the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The Prime Minister launched the European Defence Initiative to strengthen the CFSP and the European contribution to NATO. The EU's CFSP is an increasingly important means of achieving the UK's national foreign policy objectives. The Government, and most member states, favour maintaining the intergovernmental approach to CFSP.