Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress the European Council has made on the commitment in its conclusions of 27 June 2014 to consider the process for the appointment of the President of the European Commission for the future; and what assessment he has made of the role of Spitzenkandidaten in deciding the president of the Commission; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Lidington
The European Council has not yet held substantive discussions on this point of the conclusions of 27 June 2014. The Treaties clearly set out the roles the European Council and the European Parliament respectively play in the process of selecting the president of the European Commission. The Government’s view remains that, in accordance with the Treaties, only the European Council has the prerogative to propose the president of the European Commission.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the statement of the Minister for Europe of 9 March 2016 that after 10 years only about 2.2 per cent of the refugees who arrived in Germany have been granted German citizenship, what source that figure is based on; how that figure was calculated; and what information his Department holds on comparative figures for other EU countries.
Answered by David Lidington
The figure of 2.2 per cent is the percentage of foreign nationals resident for at least ten years in Germany who have become naturalised German citizens. It is known as the “Exhausted Naturalisation Potential” and is calculated by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).
The source is the 2014 Migration Report, published in January this year which can be found on the BAMF website:
http://www.bamf.de/SharedDocs/Anlagen/DE/Publikationen/Migrationsberichte/migrationsbericht-2014.html
Comparative figures for other EU states are not held centrally by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, in which court the commitment in point 7 of Section A of the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council on 18 and 19 February 2016, to incorporate the substance of the section into the EU Treaties is enforceable.
Answered by David Lidington
The decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, concerning a new settlement for the United Kingdom within the European Union, is legally binding. The Government is confident that all the commitments in the Decision will be implemented by the Member States and EU Institutions.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016 will be added to his Department's Treaty Series 2016.
Answered by David Lidington
The Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, concerning a new settlement for the United Kingdom within the European Union, will be published in the Department’s Treaty Series.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the commitments by the UK not to create obstacles to, but facilitate such deepening of the Eurozone, to sincere cooperation with the Eurozone, not to impede the implementation of legal acts directly linked to the functioning of the euro area to refrain from measures which could jeopardise the attainment of the objectives of economic and monetary union contained in the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016 are legally binding; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Lidington
The Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, concerning a new settlement for the United Kingdom within the European Union, is legally binding. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), has been clear that this deal protects the UK’s rights as a country outside the Eurozone, and from any future integration.
Asked by: David Nuttall (Conservative - Bury North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016, is an international Treaty to which the procedures of sections 20 and 25 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 will apply.
Answered by David Lidington
The Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016 is a treaty as defined in section 25(1) of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. Given that no ratification procedures apply to the Decision, the obligations in section 20 of the Act do not apply.