Blair - Europe Flashcards
What happened at Amsterdam 1997?
Britain abandoned its opt-out on EU employment and social policy.
What did Blair do on becoming PM?
Blair kept his promise by immediately instructing British officials to address any unresolved issues with Europe. Blair’s chief aim was to show the goodwill of the new government towards the EU
What happened at St Malo 1998?
Britain withdrew its objection to a common European defence policy which would operate independently of NATO. France under President Chirac was delighted since it had long been a French aim to have a European force separate from the US
What development happened between Europe and Britain in 1999?
Labour decided that it would make a final commitment to the single currency system only if and when it could establish that entry was in Britain’s economic interests. Its decision would then be put to a referendum.
What happened in a speech in Warsaw in 2000?
Blair argued for a third way. He spoke of an EU made up of friendly states, retaining their individual sovereignty, but collaborating on matters of common economic and political interests.
What happened on New Year’s Day 2002?
The euro became the common currency of all but three of the EU members
What happened June 2003?
Brown declared that the euro came nowhere near meeting the five tests and so there was no need for a referendum.
What dispute took place in 2004?
Following the enlargement of the EU to include the states of Eastern Europe, Blair told Europe that Britain was prepared to pay its ‘fair share of the costs of enlargement’, but he added that it could not give up its rebate.
What happened in 2005?
Europe closed ranks against Britain and demanded that it increased its budget contributions, Blair gave in and complied.
What happened in 2006?
Blair negotiated away the UK’s rebate, as a result of which Britain’s annual contribution rose to £7 billion.
What happened in November 2006?
The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe was scheduled to come into effect after it was ratified by each of the member states. Following France and Denmark both rejecting it, the government declared that ratification was now a dead issue and so a referendum was no longer necessary, despite Blair’s promise
What happened June 2007?
The Eu Produced a replacement for the TCE. The new document was termed a “Reform Treaty”, a linguistic shift which meant that although the new treaty was in every major respect the same as the TCE, it was not formally a constitution and, therefore did not require formal ratification.
What happened December 2007?
The British government (under Brown) declared that there was no need for a referendum on the ‘Reform Treaty’. Claiming that its promise to hold a referendum applied only to a constitution, the government asserted that acceptance of the Lisbon Treaty was now solely a matter of parliamentary approval.
