This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

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David Lidington

Minister for Europe, London

Part of FCDO Outreach

24th December 2013 London, UK

Making Progress

A little over a year ago, the Economist wrote a piece analysing Britain’s place in Europe. There wasn’t a lot of good news. Efforts to reform the way Brussels works were simply “making things worse” as “other countries are tiring of British demands”. The best we could hope for, it was argued, was to “rediscover the virtues of muddling along”.

They were wrong. The last year shows why.

The Prime Minister’s speech in January set a clear vision for the reformed Europe which we will work with our partners to achieve: one that is open, flexible, competitive and democratically accountable.  Since then, this vision has won support across Europe. Increasingly, the argument isn’t about whether the EU needs to reform, but how it should reform.

To quote (again) the Economist, this time eleven months later: “continental Europeans are coming round to the long-held British view that the EU should be smaller, less bureaucratic and lighter on business”.

We are making progress.  To take a few examples:

  • The first ever cut to the EU’s multi-annual budget, secured by the Prime Minister and a group of allies, saving billions.
  • The launch of negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the US by the PM at the G8 Summit in Lough Erne. This would be the biggest trade deal in history, worth up to £10bn a year to the UK.  We followed this up with agreement on an EU-Canada trade deal, worth up to £1.3bn a year to the UK. Separately, 2013 saw the launch of EU-Japan trade talks which could add 0.6% to the whole of the EU’s GDP.
  • A new single European patent, reducing costs to entrepreneurs by up to 80%. One of three courts, focused on biotechnology and the life sciences, will sit in London, reinforcing the UK’s leadership and excellence in those fields and bringing in at least £200m a year to the UK .

There is much, much more to do. In 2014, a new European Commission presents an opportunity for a new way of doing business in Europe. As the Dutch have said, we need a new principle: “European where necessary, national where possible”. What people across Europe need from the Commission is a laser focus on building Europe’s competitiveness and enabling growth.

Our achievements this year have fired me up for the challenge of making that a reality.

A Happy – and fruitful – New Year to you all.

About David Lidington

David Lidington MP was appointed Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on 14 May 2010. David Lidington was elected to Parliament in 1992 and is the Member…

David Lidington MP was appointed Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on 14 May 2010.
David Lidington was elected to Parliament in 1992 and is the Member of Parliament for Aylesbury.
He worked for BP and RTZ before spending three years as Special Advisor to Douglas Hurd in the Home Office and Foreign Office.
His proudest political achievement was successfully promoting a
Private Members Bill which became the Chiropractors Act in 1994. He
believes that this piece of legislation has made a real difference to
many people’s lives.
He has a long standing passion for history, and has twice captained a
champion team on University Challenge, first in 1979 and then in 2002
when the Sidney Sussex team became “champion of champions” in University
Challenge Reunited.
He is married to Helen Lidington and has four sons.