§ 36. Mr. Healeyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how Her Majesty's Government's representative on the International Commission considering the sale of Herr Krupp's coal and steel holdings voted on the recent decision to permit an extension of one year.
§ Mr. ProfumoI have nothing to add to the Answer my hon. Friend gave on 8th February to the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Mr. G. M. Thomson).
§ Mr. HealeyCan the right hon. Gentleman explain the extraordinary and inexcusable delay in carrying out this agreement? Is he aware that this matter is regarded by millions of people in this country and elsewhere as an acid test of the Federal Republic's readiness to carry out international agreements? Can the right hon. Gentleman accept from the Federal German Government the argument that no one will buy any Krupp industries when that same Government have successfully disposed of the nationalised Volkswagen concern?
§ Mr. ProfumoI well understand the hon. Gentleman's sentiments in this matter as, I am sure, the House does. All we can do is to carry out the procedure which was laid down in the Bonn Settlement Convention. We are bound by that. The Convention foresaw from the very beginning that it might be necessary in some cases to ask for extra time.
§ Mr. P. Noel-BakerHave the Government considered Krupp's recent offer of compensation to the Jews used as slave labour during the war, and do they think it satisfactory?
§ Mr. ProfumoThat is another question.