Briefing by the Prime Minister s spokesman on: Tony Blair’s speech and Western European Union
Tony Blair’s SpeechAsked if the Prime Minister watched Tony Blair s speech and what did he think of it, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) said it was a political speech and it would not be appropriate to comment.
Western European UnionAsked why there was now a different policy, the PMS said that the Western European Union s mutual defence role had been superseded by NATO and was no longer relevant to today s security architecture. The PMS said that we did of course recognise the role the Assembly had played in engaging the views of national parliamentarians, but it was the Lisbon Treaty that made it explicit that the WEU s collective security guarantee would, in practice, be delivered through NATO and in light of that we didn t believe this justified the cost of over 2 million Euros a year to the UK alone. The PMS added that after the Government had withdrawn it would no longer have to pay the full subscription, although it would continue to bare its part of the costs of the WEU staff pensions.
Asked if the other countries pulled out of the WEU would it cease to exist, the PMS said not necessarily, but it was a decision that we had taken on its own merits. Most of the WEU s functions had been transferred to the EU since the creation of the EU s Common Security and Defence policy. We wouldn t wish to do anything other than say what a good contribution it had made but now was the time for the UK to withdraw.
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seen at 20:23, 31 March in Number 10 ยป News Stories.