§ Q1. Dr. David Owenasked the Prime Minister if he will appoint a junior ministerial committee charged with the responsibility for integrating European scientific and technological collaborative projects; and if he will announce the composition and chairmanship of the committee.
§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Harold Wilson)No, Sir. Our present arrangements for considering these matters are, I think, adequate.
§ Dr. OwenWould not my right hon. Friend agree that there is an urgent need to produce concrete proposals for specific collaborative projects, if his own idea of a scientific and technological community is to maintain its momentum in Europe?
§ The Prime MinisterI entirely agree, and this is being done. In my recent discussions with President de Gaulle I outlined quite a number of specific projects of a technological character both inside and outside the peaceful use of atomic energy field which could be the basis of technical co-operation in Europe.
§ Mr. Ian LloydAre not the more generalised statements in favour of specific scientific and technological projects in the same category of futility as the statement "I am against sin"? Will the Prime Minister resist adding to the already long list of plausible idealisms under which his Government attempt to bury the main issues?
§ The Prime MinisterThat is a very weighty philosophical pronouncement, but on technical co-operation I agree that in Europe, as in this country, it must be based on a large number of specific hard projects. It is these individual physical projects that we have been discussing with President de Gaulle and more recently with the Italian Prime Minister during his visit to this country.