§ 50. Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the latest initiatives taken by Her Majesty's Government to secure an East-West security conference and an agreement for mutual balanced force reductions.
§ 29. Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what further initiatives Her Majesty's Government have made to enable an East-West security conference to be held.
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeI and my colleagues of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation discussed the proposed Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe very fully at the recent meeting 23 of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels as well as the question of mutual and balanced force reductions. The Alliance's policy, with which Her Majesty's Government concur, is set out in the Communiqué issued after that meeting, which, with permission, I will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. AllaunAs this weekend East and West initialled a transit agreement, what on earth are we waiting for now? Is it not clear that in international circles the British Government are regarded as being the ones to apply the brake to greater progress towards a security conference?
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeWe are not waiting for anything. We did not want to wait for anything. When we left Lisbon after the last meeting of the North Atlantic Council we anticipated that multilateral arrangements for a security conference would begin. The hon. Member will recall that the Russians required that the protocol should be signed simultaneously with ratification of the treaties between the Federal German Republic, Poland and the Soviet Union. Now the Federal German Republic has to pass some acts through its Parliament connected with these treaties. So I am afraid that preparation of the security conference has been delayed by that for the last few months.
§ Mr. HealeyCould the Foreign Secretary explain why it is not possible for preparations for the security conference to begin immediately? He will recognise that the passing of the treaties through the Bonn Parliament is largely at the mercy of decisions of the opposition parties in Bonn, whereas the earlier we have the security conference in Europe, which, as he himself admitted, is in the interests of all peoples in Europe, East and West, and the sooner we can make progress towards such a conference, the better.
§ Sir Alec Douglas-HomeThe right hon. Gentleman will have seen that the members of the North Atlantic Council are anxious to get on with preparations. Therefore, we are contacting the Finnish Government who have offered to give facilities for such a conference. The judgment of the Council of Ministers was that the multilateral preparations must begin as soon as possible after the ratification of the two German Treaties with 24 Poland and the Soviet Union, and after the signature of the Berlin protocol.
§ Following is the communique:
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cc24-32
- FINAL COMMUNIQUE 2,812 words cc32-6
- India and Pakistan 1,253 words cc36-7
- Bahamas 167 words c37
- South Africa (Arms Supply) 199 words cc37-8
- British Subjects (Arrest and Detention) 517 words