§ 50. Mr. Grimondasked the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the negotiations in Paris over the Free Trade Area.
§ The Prime MinisterAs the House will know, the O.E.E.C. Council of Ministers 1310 devoted much of its meeting last Monday to the problem of the discrimination which could arise on 1st January next as between the Six and the rest of the O.E.E.C. countries.
In the course of the meeting, the Six explained what they intended to do to reduce the effects of this discrimination. The United Kingdom put forward an alternative proposal which was designed to avoid quota discrimination on a reciprocal basis and which attracted considerable support. It was decided that O.E.E.C. should work on both these proposals and that Ministers would meet again on 15th January.
§ Mr. GrimondMay I ask the Prime Minister whether we are to have a White Paper on this and press him to give us one, and whether he will do his best to explain what would happen to British industry if we were to go into the Common Market and, on the other hand, what would happen if it should be formed without us? Will the right hon. Gentleman also deal with the position of Austria, which would seem to be severely affected if a Common Market came into being with no Free Trade Area around it?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir. We have promised to produce a White Paper but, of course, we could not make it as comprehensive as I would wish without the express permission of the Council. But my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer tells me that the Council, to use the common parlance, has agreed to derestrict the document concerned. Therefore, a White Paper is now being prepared and will be published as soon as possible.
§ Mr. JayHave not hon. Members on all sides shown great patience in not debating this matter for six months in order not to impede the negotiations? Is it not rather unsatisfactory that we have no certain information except that the Government's efforts at negotiating have completely failed and that the discrimination against this country will begin before we can discuss the matter again?
§ The Prime MinisterThe right hon. Gentleman can put his view in rather fierce language if he likes, but I think that our chiefest interest is to try to 1311 bring this to a successful conclusion or at any rate to avoid the major dangers. The dangers are very great and, whether we ought to have debated it before or not, I welcome the fact that the Opposition has been very patient in not asking for a debate. But I do not think that it would have helped us to have had a debate.