European Council: 14 December 2007

My Lords, does the noble Baroness not agree that it is more important to discuss the substance of this treaty than who signed what when, out of which I am not sure anyone emerges with huge credit? Those who live in glass houses really ought not to start throwing stones. The noble Baroness, Lady Chalker, signed the Single European Act, and the Financial Secretary, Mr Francis Maude, signed the treaty of Maastricht—both of which were much more weighty documents than this one. We should pass on to something more interesting. On Kosovo, will the Minister confirm that the European Union is now committed, effectively, to what it was asked to do under the Ahtisaari plan and that that commitment is not conditional on a positive Russian vote in the Security Council, but will go ahead willy-nilly? On Iran, does the Minister not agree that, although it is welcome that further sanctions against Iran will be considered both in the Security Council and the EU, there is a very strong case that, if those decisions go ahead in either one of those two forums, at the same time, the United States should say that it is prepared to enter into an unconditional dialogue with Iran? Finally, I noticed in the conclusions of the European Council a reference to technical preparations being put in hand on the implementation of the reform treaty on the basis of a work plan to be produced by the incoming Slovenian presidency. Will the Leader of the House confirm that Britain will play a full, effective and constructive role in those preparations? I have heard that, at the moment, there is not much input from the British side.