Hugo Swire: ...former Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown). In October 2008, the right hon. Gentleman raised the case with the then Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Luis Zapatero, and secured an agreement from the Spanish authorities to allow Mr Dunne’s repatriation without a cremation, on exceptional humanitarian grounds. So, with guidance and support from...
Stephen Twigg: ..., my right hon. Friend the Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown), who responded to the campaign by raising Mr and Mrs Dunne’s situation directly with the Spanish Prime Minister, Señor Zapatero, who intervened personally. That intervention resulted in the repatriation of Gary’s body. That was clearly a welcome development for the Dunne family, but it cannot be right that...
Lord Brett: The Government are confident that the President of the European Council and the rotating President are working effectively together. Mr Van Rompuy and Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero held a bilateral before Christmas, at which they agreed a range of working arrangements, including that the external representation of the EU would be the responsibility of the President of the European Council....
Chris Bryant: We understand that the Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, will announce the formal programme for their presidency on 15 December 2009. However, the Spanish have already said they will focus on implementing the Lisbon treaty, following up the Copenhagen summit on climate change, putting in place an economic reform strategy for the next 10 years, driving progress on jobs...
Gordon Brown: ..., but the Prime Minister of Spain was invited to the G20 by the President of America, to be part of the G20. I have to tell the hon. Gentleman that I invited the Prime Minister of Spain, Mr. Zapatero, to the G20 meeting that took place in London. Mr. Zapatero was at the G20 meeting that took place in Pittsburgh. In other words, Spain was part of the G20. [ Interruption. ] I know that the...
Gillian Merron: ...Balkenende, Prime Minister, The Netherlands Dmitry Medvedev, President, Russia HRH King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, Saudi Arabia Kgalema Motlanthe, President, South Africa José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Prime Minister, Spain Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister, Turkey Barack Obama, President, United States of America Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of Thailand, Chair of ASEAN Prime...
Ivan Lewis: ...a global mechanism to help deliver a comprehensive and co-ordinated international response to hunger. The recent "High Level Meeting on Food Security for All", hosted by Ban Ki Moon and President Zapatero in Madrid, agreed to launch a formal consultation process for the establishment of a "Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition" (GPAFSN) which will fully engage all...
Chris Bryant: ...to let the matter rest there. He would turn to the new President of Europe and say, "Tony, as I'm your heir, could you possibly let us have a new treaty? Oh, and I apologise to you, Mr. Rodriguez Zapatero, Mr. Sarkozy and Mrs. Merkel, for not co-operating with your political parties or your Governments over the past few years, but it would be nice if you signed up to a different form of...
Roger Godsiff: ...other honourable men and women who spoke on the issue after the treaty was agreed. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said: "The substance of the constitution is preserved. That is a fact." Jose Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister, said: "We have not let a single substantial point of the constitution treaty go...It is, without a doubt, much more than a treaty. This is a project of...
Gil Paterson: ...Elmar Brok, the chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, said: "Despite all the compromises, the substance of the draft EU Constitution has been safeguarded." Rodríguez Zapatero, the President of Spain, said: "We have not let a single substantial point of the constitutional treaty go". Giscard D'Estaing, former President of France and chairman of the convention...
Nigel Evans: ...Constitution have been maintained in a large part". Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister, said that the treaty would "preserve the substance of the constitutional treaty". Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero said: "A great part of the content of the European Constitution is captured in new treaties". Bertie Ahern said in the Irish Independent of 24 June: "I think it likely that a...
Lord Anderson of Swansea: My Lords, this morning's press claimed that at yesterday's meeting the Foreign Secretary dismayed and surprised two potential allies, President Sarkozy and Prime Minister Zapatero, by taking a very negative attitude to an increased role for the European Union in foreign affairs. Indeed, he added that as one of our own red lines to the spaghetti junction of red lines that now appear. Can the...
Geoff Hoon: ...on issues that were particularly sensitive for Gibraltar. It would also be remiss of me not to pay a particular tribute to Señor Moratinos and the Spanish Government. He and Prime Minister Zapatero have, I believe, shown courage and foresight in pursuing a more constructive policy towards Gibraltar. The substance of the agreements we have reached in September is ground breaking. They will...
Denis MacShane: ...policies would be decided in Brussels, he would be laughed out of Paris, Berlin and Madrid. Spanish, British, French and German embassies are not going to close. I am not responsible for what Mr. Zapatero says in Spanish—
Denis MacShane: ...The Irish Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, said that the EU "is not a super state; it's not a federal state. It's about a group of nations, a group of peoples working to a Constitution". Mr. Jose Luis Zapatero stated in a speech in the Spanish Cortes on 15 June: "Europe is and will be a Union of States". The new president of Germany was quoted in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on 12 May:...
Baroness Rawlings: ...the 1,300-strong Spanish contingent? Does she share my disappointment at the decision by the new socialist government in Spain to withdraw their troops? Did the Prime Minister try to persuade Senor Zapatero to reconsider this decision? As we approach the 30 June deadline for transfer of sovereignty, I welcome the UN involvement in a handover. But what will be the precise nature of the UN...
Mr Tam Dalyell: ...and more as an inspiration for it? Have not we reached a situation where many Iraqis have come to regard this as a war of liberation? In those circumstances, there are some of us who think that Mr. Zapatero is right and that—embarrassing though the loss of face may be—the coalition forces should be withdrawn.
Jack Straw: ...know exactly what led to the late change in voting intentions in Spain. There have been many other examples of voting intentions changing at a late stage of a campaign. However, Prime Minister Zapatero has said repeatedly that, as far as he is concerned, he won the election as a result of four years of campaigning, not because of the events of four days. The previous Spanish Government...
George Osborne: How did the Prime Minister get on with Spanish Prime Minister-elect Zapatero? Has he convinced him that the Iraq war was not a war based on lies? Has he changed the rather unflattering and unrepeatable assessment of him by some of the Spanish Prime Minister-elect's closest advisers?
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: My Lords, the Government congratulate Mr Zapatero on his success in the Spanish elections and welcome his commitment to taking forward work on the constitutional treaty for the EU. The European Council agreed last week that negotiations on the new treaty should resume with a view to concluding no later than the next European Council in June. The noble Baroness, Lady Amos, will make a full...
