§ Q8. Mr. Rankinasked the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the outcome of his visit to the Italian Prime Minister.
§ Q9. Mr. Emrys Hughesasked the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his recent official visit to Rome.
§ The Prime MinisterI would refer hon. Members to the joint communiqué issued after my talks with Signor Fanfani.
§ Mr. RankinIs the Minister aware that I read that joint statement with interest? May I ask whether he will give further thought to his suggestion of a link-up between Western European Union and N.A.T.O., for the reason that W.E.U. was formed to oppose German rearmament and N.A.T.O. was formed to promote it? How can the right hon. Gentleman reconcile the synthesis of these opposites, unless it means that he is now determined to proceed with the total rearmament of Western Germany, including nuclear rearmament?
§ The Prime MinisterI can reconcile the synthesis only by accepting neither the premise nor the conclusion.
§ Mr. Emrys HughesCan the Prime Minister tell us to what extent he advised the Italian Prime Minister to come in over an independent deterrent and half-a-dozen Polaris submarines, and whether in his reply the Italian Prime Minister said he could not be independent because Italy is buying oil from the Soviet Union?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not wish to add to the communiqué, but I think it was made clear that the Italian Government welcomed the proposals made at Nassau with regard to the N.A.T.O. position about the deterrent.
§ Mr. WadeIs it the intention of Her Majesty's Government to take the initiative in proposing closer political unity in Europe, which, presumably, is not ruled out by the breakdown of negotiations for entry into the European Economic Community?
§ The Prime MinisterAll these are large questions which were discussed. I understand that we are to have a two-day debate on this matter, the situation resulting from the breakdown of the Brussels negotiations, and I think that they would be more easily dealt with in that debate.
§ Mr. EdelmanWould not the right hon. Gentleman agree that it is possible to be in favour of European unity without necessarily being in favour of the Treaty of Rome? In the circumstances, is not there a great area of co-operation open to those who are in favour of the Treaty of Rome and to those who are opposed to it in connection with the unification of Europe?
§ The Prime MinisterYes, Sir. I always understood that the hon. Gentleman was in favour of both!