:00:15. > :00:19.I said before coming to Brussels that if I could not get adequate
:00:19. > :00:23.safeguards for Britain in a venue European treaty then I would not
:00:23. > :00:33.agree to it. What is on offer is not in the interests of Britain so
:00:33. > :00:43.
:00:44. > :00:46.Hello and welcome to the Daily Politics on Friday. So, after ten
:00:46. > :00:52.hours of negotiation, the Prime Minister refuses to put pen to
:00:52. > :00:57.paper and sign a new European-wide treaty to help save the euro. Mr
:00:57. > :01:00.Cameron said it just was not in Britain's interests to do so. He
:01:00. > :01:04.said it was a tough decision but the right one. Some accused the
:01:04. > :01:07.Prime Minister of scuppering a full accord to appease his party.
:01:07. > :01:14.President Sarkozy of France said Mr Cameron's demands had been
:01:14. > :01:21.unacceptable. The 17 countries which use the euro will draw up a
:01:21. > :01:26.new fiscal pact along with others who want to join. This morning, the
:01:26. > :01:36.PM was still in the European family photo - just. But his critics say
:01:36. > :01:38.
:01:38. > :01:42.his actions leaves Britain isolated. And with me for the duration,
:01:42. > :01:47.Alistair Heath from City AM and Rowenna Davies from the Guardian.
:01:47. > :01:53.Welcome. So, Nick Clegg was fully behind the Prime Minister. Boris
:01:53. > :01:58.Johnson says he played a blinder. And most Tory Euro-sceptics appear
:01:58. > :02:02.to be rubbing their hands with glee. Not everyone is happy though. The
:02:02. > :02:05.former Foreign Secretary, Lord Owen, says he has left the UK in a mess
:02:05. > :02:12.and Labour accuse his isolationist approach as a sign of weakness, not
:02:12. > :02:21.strength. So who is right and who is wrong? In a moment, we will hear
:02:21. > :02:27.from our guests. But let's listen to what David Cameron had to say.
:02:27. > :02:30.said but ball coming to Brussels that if I could not get adequate
:02:30. > :02:35.safeguards for Britain in a new European treaty then I would not
:02:35. > :02:39.agreed to it. What is on offer is not in the best interests of
:02:39. > :02:42.Britain so I did not agree to it. Those countries that signed the
:02:43. > :02:46.treaty and the agreements they have made tonight for co-ordinating
:02:46. > :02:50.their budgets are making sure there isn't more surveillance of what
:02:50. > :02:54.they do and the fiscal integration they need, we wish them well
:02:54. > :02:59.because we want the eurozone to sort out its problems and achieve
:02:59. > :03:03.the stability and growth at all of Europe - Britain included - needs.
:03:03. > :03:09.We wish them well in that regard. The agreements they made tonight
:03:09. > :03:12.may help them to do that. The key question for Britain was, do you
:03:12. > :03:16.allow that to happen within the European Union treaties if you are
:03:16. > :03:21.not happy with the safeguards you are given? I was not prepared to
:03:21. > :03:25.agree that treaty and take it to Parliament in that way. That is why
:03:25. > :03:34.are rejected signing this treaty today. The right thing for Britain,
:03:34. > :03:39.a tough decision but the right one. Not many got sleep only just time
:03:39. > :03:46.to change their shirts. Angela Merkel has a shirt as well. York
:03:46. > :03:54.over the you? It is a total mess. - - your overdue. David Cameron
:03:54. > :03:57.failed to get a financial deal in the eurozone. The second thing he
:03:57. > :04:02.prepared to do was to provide a role for Britain which had
:04:02. > :04:07.meaningful influence at will. We're going to become increasingly
:04:07. > :04:12.isolated and that will be dangerous for this country. While this is
:04:12. > :04:18.going on, his Conservative backbenchers and MPs are laughing.
:04:18. > :04:25.It is a serious risk. What could he have done? He should have said, we
:04:25. > :04:31.need to go forward with this deal. He threw his toys out of the plan
:04:31. > :04:35.to -- the pram. They are doing it anyway? They will do it without
:04:35. > :04:40.Britain having any influence at will. You think we should have
:04:41. > :04:46.signed up to a balanced budget? What I think is, if David Cameron
:04:46. > :04:50.had gone in... There are certain reasons why you think it is not a
:04:50. > :04:54.good deal for Britain. If there was not going to be a greater growth
:04:54. > :04:58.strategy. The only reason he was against it was partly because of
:04:58. > :05:02.the banks and because he wanted to protect the City of London and
:05:02. > :05:08.because his Euro-sceptic MPs did not want him to be a part of it.
:05:08. > :05:13.think it was a great move from David Cameron. I did not think he
:05:13. > :05:17.would be so decisive. This treaty had nothing to do with saving the
:05:17. > :05:23.euro. It is harder for some countries to have a budget deficit.
:05:23. > :05:29.He did not address fundamental issues which made the euro is not a
:05:29. > :05:33.sustainable currency. The treaty is about growing the powers of the EU.
:05:33. > :05:41.There are a whole series of policies that have nothing to do
:05:41. > :05:47.with posting the single currency - wanting a Tobin tax, corporation
:05:47. > :05:52.tax. Other eurozone countries did not want these things, not the UK.
:05:52. > :05:58.That is the overdue you have given us. We will look into more detail
:05:58. > :06:01.at what happened last night. The UK went into the negotiations last
:06:01. > :06:05.night with the Prime Minister determined that any deal to
:06:05. > :06:08.strengthen the eurozone should include safeguards for the UK. On
:06:08. > :06:10.the table was a full-scale change of European Union treaties which
:06:10. > :06:15.would have enshrined fiscal discipline on eurozone countries,
:06:15. > :06:20.including common rules on taxation and budgets. In exchange for
:06:20. > :06:23.signing up to this, David Cameron is reported to have demanded: Any
:06:23. > :06:27.transfer of power from a national regulator to an EU regulator on
:06:27. > :06:33.financial services would be subject to a veto. Banks should face a
:06:33. > :06:39.higher capital requirement. The European Banking Authority should
:06:40. > :06:49.The European Central Bank be rebuffed in its attempts to rule
:06:50. > :06:50.
:06:50. > :06:52.that euro-denominated transactions These safeguards, however, were
:06:52. > :06:54.rejected by other European leaders, including the French President,
:06:54. > :06:57.Nicolas Sarkozy, who said, David Cameron requested something which
:06:57. > :07:07.we all considered was unacceptable At that point, the UK exercised its
:07:07. > :07:17.
:07:17. > :07:20.It led to 23 countries signing up to a new euro-plus group. Sweden
:07:20. > :07:28.and the Czech Republic could soon join them, which leaves just the UK
:07:28. > :07:33.and Hungary outside. In the last few minutes, the Hungarian leaders
:07:33. > :07:37.have been talking about joining as well. They have indicated to the
:07:37. > :07:41.BBC that they will also sign up. Well, you might think this is a
:07:41. > :07:48.good day for the UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, so let's ask him. He joins
:07:48. > :07:54.me now from Brussels. Are you happy? On the face of it, puree.
:07:54. > :07:59.When you think there tick, you realise he has actually gained
:07:59. > :08:07.nothing. -- about it. His negotiating position was too weak.
:08:07. > :08:12.If he had said quite give me this will we are leaving. My real worry
:08:12. > :08:18.is that the financial markets are extremely vulnerable. Every time
:08:18. > :08:25.the bond markets which for the euro has a problem, Mr Sarkozy will say
:08:25. > :08:29.it is the City of London and let's regulate them even more. We find
:08:29. > :08:34.ourselves in the European Union in a permanent voting minority and the
:08:34. > :08:39.least popular we have ever been. what grounds can you claim that if
:08:39. > :08:44.Mr Cameron had threatened to leave the EU that Mr Sarkozy would have
:08:44. > :08:49.put a Cold War around the City of London? If you go into negotiations
:08:49. > :08:55.in Brussels, you have to be very tough and carry a big stick or you
:08:55. > :09:00.will not get anything. Mr Cameron went in thinking he would get a
:09:00. > :09:07.deal and exercise the veto. If he things Euro-sceptic debate would
:09:07. > :09:12.have been appeased by this, he would have been wrong. -- thinks.
:09:12. > :09:20.On what grounds do you think the French would be agreed to a gold
:09:20. > :09:26.walk around London? -- would agree. We have come out of this with
:09:26. > :09:32.nothing. And not a single power has been returned. We are now in the
:09:32. > :09:35.worst of all worlds. Thank you for joining us. So what do the Labour
:09:35. > :09:43.Party make of all this? Joining me from Glasgow is the Shadow Foreign
:09:43. > :09:49.Secretary, Douglas Alexander. What Ed Miliband had vetoed the deal?
:09:49. > :09:52.would have negotiated a better deal for Britain. When he asks the
:09:52. > :09:57.fundamental question, what has Britain gained at of the
:09:57. > :10:04.positioning and posturing of David Cameron last night, the answer is
:10:04. > :10:10.nothing? Britain is more isolated than it has been around the
:10:11. > :10:16.European table than at any point in 35 years. It is a worrying time for
:10:16. > :10:21.Britain. Despite the securing of some headlines, David Cameron
:10:21. > :10:25.failed to secure the real interests of Britain last night. In terms of
:10:25. > :10:29.the City of London, I do not think it serves the interests of the City
:10:29. > :10:34.of London to be totally outside European financial regulation.
:10:34. > :10:39.Being part of that has been part of the success of the city in the past.
:10:39. > :10:44.If there were real concerns, there were other options available. An
:10:44. > :10:48.emergency brake procedure up to inter-governmental level, where
:10:48. > :10:53.Britain could exercise a level, that could be a way forward. David
:10:53. > :10:58.Cameron reached a point in his mind, perhaps the boy got to Brussels,
:10:58. > :11:03.where he realised he could not get what he wanted in the House of
:11:03. > :11:08.Commons through his own backbenchers. If Nicolas Sarkozy
:11:08. > :11:13.was being awkward, it would have been up to a British Prime Minister
:11:13. > :11:20.not to have agreed. We would have started the negotiations in a
:11:20. > :11:25.different place. What you have vetoed it in the end? We would have
:11:25. > :11:30.offered a different position. had turned that down and said he
:11:30. > :11:35.was not giving anything special to the City of London, it would you
:11:35. > :11:41.have vetoed the deal? We have always been in a position of QMV in
:11:41. > :11:45.relation to the city was it takes skill, judgment and disciplined to
:11:45. > :11:53.get the outcome. Would you have vetoed the deal if the French had
:11:53. > :11:59.said No vote -- help for the City? Let's be clear, there were other
:11:59. > :12:03.options available to David Cameron. I cannot prejudge the reaction of
:12:03. > :12:08.President Sarkozy to a different Prime Minister negotiating in a
:12:08. > :12:13.different way. This issue will unravel for Cameron. He has
:12:13. > :12:18.exercised this in the service of what and to gain what. What
:12:18. > :12:23.additional protections had been secured for the City of London? The
:12:23. > :12:26.answer is nothing. We're not in a room. We are not in the room
:12:26. > :12:31.because you did not take us into the euro. We are where we are
:12:31. > :12:35.because your government did not join them the eurozone. One of the
:12:35. > :12:39.things we would have been seeking, which I do not sense David Cameron
:12:39. > :12:44.asked for, would be to make sure Britain does have the seat at the
:12:44. > :12:49.table. We are in a position where 25 European countries would be
:12:49. > :12:55.discussing hugely important issues. Britain would not even have a voice
:12:55. > :13:01.in those discussions. Why would the French give us a seat at the table?
:13:01. > :13:06.They have told Mr Cameron to shut up. Do you think Mr Sarkozy would
:13:06. > :13:10.listen to you? This has been the consequence of a shambolic and ill
:13:10. > :13:13.judged negotiation strategy, stretching back months. David
:13:13. > :13:20.Cameron was telling Chancellor Merkel he did not want to be in the
:13:20. > :13:23.room. That is what he told her as recently as March. I am not
:13:23. > :13:28.surprised that other European leaders are confused at the
:13:28. > :13:33.position of David Cameron. Where were the Danes, the polls, the
:13:33. > :13:39.Dutch, of the Swedes? They were natural allies in pass negotiations
:13:39. > :13:49.but they were nowhere last night. - - past negotiations. We are more
:13:49. > :13:50.
:13:50. > :13:53.isolated than we needed to be. Earlier today, Alastair Campbell
:13:53. > :13:56.tweeted: Got to admire Bill Cash. Just sat tight and waited for a
:13:56. > :14:03.leader to come along and do his work for him. Will be excitedly
:14:03. > :14:09.planning next steps. So, is he right? Let's speak to Mr Cash now.
:14:09. > :14:13.I think he has done exactly the right thing. It is it all down to
:14:13. > :14:19.you, is it? I am glad he has followed the advice that many
:14:19. > :14:23.people have been trying to forgive him -- to give him. What does he do
:14:23. > :14:28.next? The position basically is that the other member states threw
:14:28. > :14:33.down the gauntlet. They wanted to move towards a political union.
:14:33. > :14:39.What they came up with may well prove to be outside the treaty is
:14:39. > :14:42.anyway. He is creating a pass towards for renegotiation of our
:14:42. > :14:46.relationship with the European Union which has been well overdue.
:14:46. > :14:52.The causes of the present troubles in the European Union come from the
:14:52. > :15:02.structure of the treaties and over- regulation. You save for
:15:02. > :15:02.
:15:02. > :15:06.renegotiation is a euphemism for actually now a path which we have
:15:06. > :15:10.to follow, which will actually end up by our entering into a new
:15:10. > :15:14.relationship and looking outwards to the rest of the world. Why do
:15:14. > :15:20.you think the Germans or the French had any interest in creating a new
:15:20. > :15:27.relationship for Britain? They are more likely to say, either accept
:15:27. > :15:33.it as it is, or get out? That may well be the end game. I am saying
:15:33. > :15:40.that at this juncture he has done the right thing. You would like
:15:41. > :15:47.that endgame, wouldn't you? believe we have reached... I have
:15:47. > :15:54.seen an historic turning point. Just say it pulls up I want to get
:15:54. > :15:57.out. Get it off your chest. I know you want me to say it. There are
:15:57. > :16:03.several months ahead of renegotiation to take place. We
:16:03. > :16:07.have not seen a detail yet. We will hear on Monday when he comes back
:16:07. > :16:17.from the summit in the House of Commons. It is an historic moment
:16:17. > :16:18.
:16:18. > :16:22.for Britain and the Conservative I could not get Mr Alexander to say
:16:22. > :16:29.he would have vetoed the deal, and I cannot get Mr Cash to say what he
:16:29. > :16:32.really thinks. Anyway, it looks like an number of the Liberal
:16:32. > :16:36.Democrat partners in the government will have a few choice words to say.
:16:36. > :16:44.Joining me, the former chairman of the Conservative Party, Norman
:16:44. > :16:48.Fowler, and the chair of the European Parliament Economic and
:16:48. > :16:55.Monetary Affairs Committee, Sharon Bowles. So, this has got Lib Dem
:16:55. > :16:58.support? He negotiated from the standpoint that was agreed with the
:16:58. > :17:03.Liberal Democrats to try and do something for the City. I have to
:17:03. > :17:07.say, that was against my advice, because I could tell you that
:17:07. > :17:12.nothing like that would ever have been on the cards, because
:17:12. > :17:17.financial services are part of the single market. So, we should have
:17:17. > :17:23.put the financial services into that basket. This is a simple
:17:23. > :17:32.question which demands a simple answer - does what Mr Cameron has
:17:32. > :17:36.done it in Brussels have Lib Dem support? I think because he stuck
:17:36. > :17:39.within the agreed lines, then probably the Lib Dems are very
:17:39. > :17:43.disappointed, but they will have to concede that it was a dangerous
:17:43. > :17:48.game, and he played and lost. Cameron could not have done
:17:48. > :17:53.anything else and held his party together, could he? No, I think
:17:53. > :17:56.that's right. If you go back to yesterday, we were being told by
:17:56. > :18:02.some Euro-sceptic MPs that he was going to come back like Chamberlain,
:18:03. > :18:06.with a worthless piece of paper. That hasn't happened. That Tory MP
:18:06. > :18:11.owes David Cameron an apology, I would suggest. I would have thought
:18:11. > :18:14.so, and I would think owes us a piece of silence on this debate.
:18:14. > :18:19.The it is the first bit of good news I have heard all morning. I
:18:19. > :18:23.think what David Cameron did his, he went with an agenda, France were
:18:23. > :18:32.not prepared to negotiate on it at all, not on any bit of it, and he
:18:32. > :18:37.said no. The Liberal Democrats, I heard the equivocation on your side,
:18:38. > :18:42.I heard what Mr Alexander was saying, I'm still no clearer on
:18:42. > :18:46.what Labour Party policy is on this. I think Cameron has done exactly
:18:46. > :18:51.the right thing. And I do not come from a Euro-sceptic background. I
:18:51. > :18:58.spent most of the early 1990s fighting on Maastricht. I remember
:18:58. > :19:03.that well, I was in the trenches, covering you. Don't the Lib Dems
:19:03. > :19:06.and sound a bit divided? I am confused by both. I thought David
:19:06. > :19:11.Cameron was supposed to be a strong leader, who could control his
:19:11. > :19:16.backbenchers. Who told you that? That was what his reputation was
:19:16. > :19:19.supposed to be. But obviously not. It is interesting because we are
:19:19. > :19:23.seeing a change in the perception of David Cameron, as someone who
:19:23. > :19:30.was quite reactionary and actually quite weak. Absolutely totally
:19:30. > :19:35.wrong on that. As I have said, I am not a Euro-sceptic, in the sense
:19:35. > :19:39.that bill Cash is a Euro-sceptic. What you have found, I would be
:19:39. > :19:43.amazed if there are any in the Conservative Party, in my part of
:19:43. > :19:48.the party, who are against what he has done. It is not as if he has
:19:48. > :19:53.been pushed from behind by some curious collection. Coming back to
:19:53. > :19:57.the Lib Dems, Mr Cameron cannot act alone, he's in coalition, I would
:19:57. > :20:01.suggest there is a fair chance, maybe higher than that, that this
:20:01. > :20:08.is going to cause your property real problems, and divide it quite
:20:08. > :20:12.deeply? -- your party. Well, there may be problems. Looking at it from
:20:12. > :20:16.a European angle, I think it was something which was never going to
:20:16. > :20:21.be a possibility for us to negotiate, and therefore the
:20:21. > :20:24.outcome was predetermined. What about your leader? He agreed to it
:20:24. > :20:29.because it was a compromise, it moved a long way from where it
:20:29. > :20:33.might have been. Vince Cable, Chris Huhne, Lord Oakeshott, who seems to
:20:33. > :20:40.speak for everybody these days, they are not happy. No, I think the
:20:40. > :20:43.way in which we are isolated now, this is very damaging. We have not
:20:43. > :20:49.maintained the status quo in financial services. As I said,
:20:49. > :20:54.that's the problem, if you play and lose, you're worse off. Watcher
:20:54. > :20:58.David Cameron do now? That is exactly the point. He actually went
:20:58. > :21:02.in with very few demands, very weak demands, and he got nothing. This
:21:02. > :21:07.suggests to me there is nothing he can get from the EU. They're on a
:21:07. > :21:11.particular course, they will go a certain way, they want to integrate,
:21:11. > :21:15.harmonise and centralised. But that fundamentally changes our
:21:15. > :21:20.relationship. But that's true whoever was in power. Whoever was
:21:20. > :21:24.the government... I agree, I think it would have been exactly the same
:21:24. > :21:29.had Labour been in power. We have been at this crossroads for years,
:21:29. > :21:35.I believe, trying to delay it. Either you choose to go completely
:21:35. > :21:39.in the EU, with the euro, total union, or you do not. You have got
:21:39. > :21:43.to make that choice. At some point the UK was going to have to make
:21:43. > :21:49.that choice, because Whiteley we did not join the euro a few years
:21:49. > :21:53.ago, under Labour. Is there any credence to this idea, which Bill
:21:53. > :21:57.Cash was mentioning, that the British should go for a fundamental
:21:57. > :22:00.renegotiation of our relationship? If I was going to go into
:22:00. > :22:03.negotiations, I'm not sure I would choose this moment to go back to
:22:03. > :22:10.Europe and say, we want to talk about employment laws and one of
:22:10. > :22:14.those things. There's an awful lot of play still to be had. We talk as
:22:14. > :22:19.if the 17, who have already agreed upon everything... There is a
:22:19. > :22:23.helluva lot of discussion and negotiation which has got to go on.
:22:23. > :22:27.Germany's view is not going to be the same, I suspect, as a number of
:22:27. > :22:32.other countries, who are more on the fringe of Europe. We should not
:22:32. > :22:37.take for granted that all 17, plus the other six, that they go
:22:37. > :22:41.national parlour to -- they go national parliaments are going to
:22:41. > :22:44.accept that they can never have a deficit of more than 3%, that their
:22:44. > :22:52.budget will have to be submitted to Brussels before it can be approved,
:22:52. > :22:58.that there will be an economic Planning Commission... Why would
:22:58. > :23:01.people signed up to that, including countries like Ireland? If I was
:23:01. > :23:06.another country inside the euro, I would have serious concerns with
:23:06. > :23:10.this treaty, and how it affects our national sovereignty. But these
:23:10. > :23:13.concerns do not apply to Britain. For us, it was about whether we
:23:13. > :23:18.want to accept more financial regulation of the city, and we said
:23:18. > :23:23.no. That to me sounds surprising, didn't we just have a financial
:23:23. > :23:28.crash? It is much more profound than that. Cameron was actually
:23:28. > :23:32.going in asking for the power to regulate the City more heavily than
:23:32. > :23:37.the EU once, in the key area of capital requirements. So it is not
:23:37. > :23:42.as simple as he himself has led us to believe. He was in favour of the
:23:42. > :23:46.Tobin tax, and not relocating outside the City. But he was asking
:23:46. > :23:49.for unanimity on various things which previously had been done by
:23:49. > :23:54.qualified majority voting, which, under the treaty, would have passed
:23:54. > :23:59.us that. That's why it was never going to be the case. Will be look
:23:59. > :24:04.back in history and see this as the day that Britain began a long but
:24:04. > :24:08.inevitable withdrawal from Europe? I think we could look back, but I
:24:08. > :24:11.think there is an awful lot of play still to be had, and it is
:24:11. > :24:15.extremely difficult to forecast. But what it does it is, it
:24:15. > :24:18.highlights that we have got a different concept, at least the
:24:18. > :24:22.Conservative Party has got an entirely different concept on what
:24:22. > :24:26.Europe is about. We do not want a centralised Europe, we have never
:24:26. > :24:30.made any secret about that, and we're not going to go ahead on a
:24:30. > :24:34.position where we are being given that centralised Europe. Stick with
:24:34. > :24:38.us, we have locked down the studio, you cannot leave just yet. We are
:24:38. > :24:41.going to get some thoughts from our political correspondent Iain Watson,
:24:41. > :24:46.who has been following events in Brussels overnight. He's still
:24:46. > :24:54.awake, yes, there are he is, a breathing, smiling, sentient human
:24:54. > :25:00.being, and a BBC correspondent. Mr Watson, what is the mood in the
:25:00. > :25:03.British camp this morning, other than exhaustion? Certainly, it is
:25:03. > :25:08.exhausted. I think the mood is that Britain did the best it could under
:25:08. > :25:10.the circumstances. Basically, what I am picking up here is that there
:25:10. > :25:16.was quite a lot of irritation with the British position, because they
:25:16. > :25:25.are not in the single currency. To choose one fairly colourful
:25:26. > :25:29.continental phrase, it was said that David Cameron wants to bring
:25:29. > :25:38.along, Surrey, he wants to join the wife-swapping party, without
:25:38. > :25:42.bringing along his own wife to the party. Given that is the case, what
:25:42. > :25:46.seem to be innocuous demands to the rest of us, about protecting the
:25:46. > :25:49.financial services, protecting the City of London, has been
:25:49. > :25:54.interpreted here as driving a coach and horses through the single
:25:54. > :25:58.market. I think it is a big miscalculation, actually. While the
:25:58. > :26:03.French were very sceptical towards Britain, the Germans and others
:26:03. > :26:06.would make compromises. In that sense, a brave face is being put on
:26:06. > :26:10.it in the British camp. But David Cameron is saying, different
:26:11. > :26:16.countries can do things at different speeds, why not? I
:26:16. > :26:20.suppose this time, it is 25, even 26 countries doing one thing, and
:26:20. > :26:24.Britain doing another. Although he's getting a lot of plaudits from
:26:24. > :26:30.some Euro-sceptic MPs back in London, for not signing up to this
:26:30. > :26:34.deal, which he found an acceptable, at the same time, when I was asking
:26:34. > :26:37.about this at the press conference, he did admit there were some risks
:26:37. > :26:42.for Britain in this, and he said it was very important to make sure
:26:42. > :26:46.that the European institutions serve all 27 members, not just this
:26:46. > :26:51.large inner core. Go and have another coffee, thanks for joining
:26:51. > :26:56.us. This may be stupid, I'm actually not quite sure what all
:26:56. > :27:00.this is about. Last time I looked, we had a major European sovereign
:27:00. > :27:06.debt crisis, which needed funding now, which needed the ECB to do
:27:06. > :27:10.something, to print money ought to do eurobonds, which needed the
:27:10. > :27:15.Europeans to come up with a massive bail-out fund - none of this has
:27:15. > :27:18.been talk about. What's happening? Exactly, nothing really is
:27:18. > :27:22.happening. This is really a revamped version of the stability
:27:22. > :27:26.and growth package, which was agreed during the Maastricht treaty,
:27:26. > :27:29.which was to be responsible when it came to fiscal policy. So what this
:27:29. > :27:33.is now saying is, actually, we're going to have a bit of a harsher
:27:33. > :27:36.system, and therefore, everything will be sorted. It means the
:27:36. > :27:40.European Central Bank will be relaxed and will be willing to buy
:27:40. > :27:48.lots of European bonds. But it has already said, yesterday, it is not
:27:48. > :27:51.going to do that. It was the president of the European Central
:27:51. > :27:55.Bank who said, we are not doing eurobonds, we are not going to be a
:27:55. > :27:59.lender of last resort to governments, and we are not even
:27:59. > :28:05.going to shovel our money around the back door to the IMF, so they
:28:05. > :28:10.can hand it out. I have to say, I never thought the ECB was going to
:28:10. > :28:14.jump in very quickly, and the rally that we had following his remarks
:28:14. > :28:18.in the European Parliament last week, I thought that people were
:28:18. > :28:22.misunderstanding what he was saying. I think they still will be active
:28:22. > :28:26.in the secondary bond market. They have increased the lending lines to
:28:26. > :28:31.banks. It is certainly the lender of last resort to banks, that's for
:28:31. > :28:38.sure. And ultimately, they can accept a lot more things on
:28:38. > :28:42.repurchase, and they can therefore buy sovereign bonds, or re-purchase
:28:42. > :28:48.sovereign bonds in that way. not quite what Mr Sarkozy was
:28:48. > :28:52.talking about. No. We will have to leave it there. Thank you all.