HC Deb 08 July 1969 vol 786 cc1159-60
Q4. Mr. Gwynfor Evans

asked the Prime Minister when he next proposes to pay an official visit to Luxembourg.

The Prime Minister

I have no plans to do so at present, Sir.

Mr. Evans

When the right hon. Gentleman does next go to Luxembourg to seek support for British entry of the Common Market, will he reflect that, with a population of only 330,000, Luxembourg succeeds in maintaining a viable and prosperous autonomous life? Is he aware that Wales should enjoy a comparable status, and that the Welsh people view with alarm the possibility of entering the Common Market as long as the Welsh people have not a status comparable with that of Luxembourg?

The Prime Minister

I do not think that the hon. Gentleman fully understands the attitude of Luxembourg to these ques tions. It is true that it is a small country and that in almost the whole period since the war it has been economically integrated with Belgium and the Netherlands in Benelux, which itself forms part of the Common Market. The hon. Gentleman will also recognise that, in terms of the pure geography, not to mention history, of Luxembourg, it is part of a highly prosperous coal and steel community. I think that about four-fifths of its earnings depend on the integrated coal and steel community of which the Luxembourg area forms only a part.