HC Deb 16 November 1970 vol 806 cc856-7
35. Sir T. Beamish

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will give an assurance that the undertakings given at Yalta and Potsdam and the peace treaties with Rumania, Bulgaria and Hungary will be kept in force notwitstanding the terms of the agreement between West Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

Her Majesty's Government do not consider that the Treaty signed between the Federal Republic of Germany and the U.S.S.R. will in itself affect the undertakings to which my hon. and gallant Friend refers. The Treaty expressly provides in Article 4 that it shall not affect any bilateral or multilateral treaties or arrangements previously concluded by the parties to it.

Sir T. Beamish

In so far as the wartime agreements refer to self-determination is my right hon. Friend aware of the very strong opposition to the view that détente is somehow synonymous with putting the stamp of legal and moral responsibility on the Soviet Union's position in East and Central Europe?

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

The Federal Government of Germany, while hoping to introduce more flexibility into its relations with East Germany and with the Soviet Union, has been meticulously careful to protect the allied position, both in Berlin and in relation to the whole of Germany, so far as a final peace settlement is concerned.

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