The House of Commons held a debate, yesterday, ahead of the European Council meeting on 30 January. During the debate Bill Cash made the following speech and interventions:

The House of Commons debated, yesterday, the European Commission Communication, Towards an EU Criminal Policy. During the debate Bill Cash made the following interventions:

Last November, the European Court of Auditors published its report on the implementation of the 2010 EU Budget. It is well known that the Court has refused to sign off on how the money from the EU's 2010 budget had been spent. In this report, the Court also criticized the way the European Parliament has been managing its subsidy scheme for visitors’ groups.

According to a new YouGov opinion poll commissioned by Hugo van Randwyck “support for EFTA/EEA has increased to 44%, while support for EU/EEA membership has fallen to 21%.”

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) aims to reduce the impact of electrical and electronic goods on the environment. It increases re-use and recycling and reduces the amount of WEEE going to landfill. It makes producers responsible for financing the collection, treatment, and recovery of waste electrical equipment, and obliges distributors to allow consumers to return their waste equipment free of charge. This Directive has an impact on producers, distributors and recyclers of electrical and electronic equipment. In 2008, the European Commission has proposed revised laws on recycling and use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.

The House of Commons debated, yesterday, the European Commission’s draft regulations on the Connecting Europe Facility in the next Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-20. During the debate Bill Cash made the following interventions:

As the European Union seeks to develop its security and defence policy, its parasitic usage of pre-existent military structures and assets continues apace. And when it comes to identifying cross-national structures with military implications in the European context, the obvious target is NATO.

William Cash: The Leader of the House knows that there will be a summit on European matters towards the end of the month—probably 30 January; my hon. Friend Mr Leigh raised the matter last week. The European Scrutiny Committee has unanimously called on the Government to provide for a debate before that summit, on the Floor of the House, for a minimum of three hours. The last time I asked this question, I was told it should go off to Westminster Hall or should be dealt with by a Backbench Business Committee resolution. That is quite inappropriate; this is a serious matter, affecting the whole of the United Kingdom. It needs to have a general debate on the Floor of the House. Can we please have one?

At the December’s European Council the eurozone and other Member States agreed to “consider, and confirm within 10 days, the provision of additional resources for the IMF of up to EUR 200 billion (USD 270 billion), in the form of bilateral loans, to ensure that the IMF has adequate resources to deal with the crisis." The Eurozone leaders stressed they are “looking forward to parallel contributions from the international community.” On 19 December, the eurozone Member States agreed to provide EUR 150 billion of additional resources through bilateral loans to the IMF's General Resources Account. They are, therefore, expecting that non-eurozone member states will contribute with EUR 50 billion. The Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, and Sweden have already indicated their willingness to contribute additional resources to the IMF. However, it was not enough to reach the EUR 200 billion target.

The solution to Europe’s sovereign debt crisis is not that difficult to work out although selling the notion to Germany is. If Europe is leave this crisis with political and economic credibility intact the way out demands a European solution. The IMF is already involved in Europe’s mess but Europe’s problem should not require, other than minimal support to none Euro members plus those for which it has already pledged help, more IMF support than deemed absolutely necessary. Time is running out - if the Euro is to survive and the political culture and respect from the rest of the world for the EU is to be retained intact then the solution to Europe’s crisis must come through partner agreement that enables the European Central Bank to be given a proper mandate to act.