Derek McDowell (Labour)

I join others in welcoming the ambassador, Mr. Bruton, to the House. It is an advantage of this House that it can occasionally take time for these kinds of reflective discussions and I thank Mr. Bruton for taking time out to facilitate us.

I was struck by his comments about the current account deficit in the US and the scenario that might flow from it. He knows as well as I do that the particular scenario set out by him has been predicted by economists for some time but has not happened yet. Is there a real danger to the EU, especially the fledgling recovery in countries like Germany, if the scenario spelled out by him, which would result in an appreciation of the euro against the dollar, came about? In that context, are we not in real difficulty and should we perhaps not give more thought to the policy of increasing interest rates at the current pace within the eurozone? There is a real danger in a combination of the scenario spelled out by Mr. Bruton and the European Central Bank's policy of increasing interest rates at its current pace.

My second question concerns Africa. We sometimes get very mixed signals from the Bush Administration in respect of Africa. On one hand, one gets the impression that because Africa has little strategic interest for the US, the Bush Administration is not engaged. On the other hand, President Bush can attend a G8 summit, as he did in Edinburgh, and sign up to what looks, on the face of it, to be an extraordinary commitment in terms of resources on the part of the US. This is one of those areas where joint action between the EU and the US is vital if there is to be a serious impact locally in Africa. I am interested in hearing the ambassador's thoughts on the reality of the commitment of the US in this regard.