Lisbon Treaty — Disapproves of the government's policy towards the Lisbon Treaty with regards to international development — rejected — 25 Feb 2008 at 19:23

The majority No voters rejected an amendment^[1] disapproving of "the Government's policy towards the Treaty of Lisbon in respect of international development..."

In the debate Tony Baldry MP argues that:^[2]

• '...with the treaty, international development will be subsumed under, and answerable to, the external action policy. In other words, foreign policy will come first, and international development will come second. References to the most disadvantaged—that is, the pro-poor policy—will be removed by the treaty, and many of us are worried that this will result in a foreign policy that is much more geared towards middle-income countries...'

However, Douglas Alexander MP reckoned that:^[3]

• 'The Lisbon treaty will strengthen the European Union's development assistance by ensuring that development aid is used to reduce poverty, humanitarian aid is allocated on the basis of need and non-aid policies take account of development objectives.'

The main aims of the Lisbon Treaty were to^[4]:

• Streamline EU institutions
• Establish a permanent President of the European Council (as of 16 March 2010 held by Herman Van Rompuy)
• Establish the post of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (as of 16 March 2010 held by Catherine Ashton)
• Give new powers to the EU over justice and home affairs
• Remove the national veto in some areas such as energy security and emergency aid

----

• [1] Andrew Mitchell MP, House of Commons, 25 February 2008
• [2] Tony Baldry MP, House of Commons, 25 February 2008
• [3] Douglas Alexander MP, House of Commons, 25 February 2008
• [4] BBC News Q&A: The Lisbon Treaty, 5 February 2010

Debate in Parliament | Source |