Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government’s policy is on the EU Global Strategy.

Mr David Lidington

At the European Council meeting of 25-26 June, European leaders asked the EU High Representative to prepare an EU Global Strategy on foreign and defence policy to replace the 2003 European Security Strategy, which was last updated in 2008. It will identify and describe EU Member State interests, priorities and objectives, existing and evolving threats, challenges and opportunities, and the instruments and means to meet them. The Government supports this initiative, which complements the UK’s Strategic Defence and Security Review, and has engaged regularly with the High Representative during its preparation. The Government believes that the Global Strategy can enhance UK and other Member State foreign and security policy by covering the full range of EU external action tools.