HC Deb 03 July 1972 vol 840 cc6-12
6. Mr. Marten

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on which subjects the Government are now doing preparatory work prior to the Summit Meeting of the Common Market countries and the applicant countries.

23. Mr. Blaker

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the current state of the Government's preparations for the summit meeting of the Common Market and applicant countries.

Mr. Rippon

Preparations are directed mainly to matters bearing on the internal development of the Community, its external relations and responsibilities, and institutional questions.

Mr. Marten

Does not the breaking of the agreement to narrow the exchange rates so soon after it was made illustrate the abject folly of becoming tied into such schemes, anyhow for the British people, if not for the Common Market people? If this matter is to be discussed at the summit, would my right hon. and learned Friend made it perfectly clear to President Pompidou that the British people do not want to have anything to do with this?

Mr. Rippon

No, Sir—to both parts of the question.

Mr. Blaker

Will my right hon. and learned Friend confirm that among the subjects to be discussed at the summit will be regional economic policy?

Mr. Rippon

That is a matter that comes within the framework of the first item on the agenda to which I have referred, the internal development of the Community.

Mr. Arthur Lewis

When the right hon. and learned Gentleman next meets President Pompidou or any of the French Ministers, will he draw their attention to the excellent poll recently taken by the Daily Express, the Harris Poll, which says that the overwhelming and full-hearted consent of the people has not yet been obtained by the Prime Minister?

Mr. Rippon

We all know what has happened in Parliament and the very large majority which has expressed its approval for membership of the Com- munity on the terms negotiated. I think that some hon. and right hon. Gentlemen sometimes speak from the Opposition Front Bench without the full-hearted consent of their back benchers.

Mr. Wingfield Digby

Will my right hon. and learned Friend do everything he can to prevent the postponement of this important summit meeting?

Mr. Rippon

There is no reason to suppose that there will be any such postponement. Preparations are going ahead between all Foreign Ministers.

Mrs. Hart

Is there expected to be included on the agenda the issue of generalised preferences and the harmonisation of the British scheme with the EEC scheme, and, if so, is the Chancellor of the Duchy proposing to take what one would hope would be a relatively tough attitude?

Mr. Rippon

We shall take a co-operative attitude because the Community has demonstrated over many years its concern for its responsibilities, particularly to the developing world. I particularly emphasised in my answer that one of the matters to be discussed was not just external relations but external responsibilities. That must include the sort of subject to which the right hon. Lady referred.

12. Mr. Leslie Huckfield

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects to meet representatives of the Australian Government to discuss Great Britain's entry into the European Economic Community; and whether he will make a statement.

Mr. Rippon

I have had discussions with Mr. Anthony, Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry, who visited London from 26th to 29th June.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs has just completed a visit to Australia.

Mr. Huckfield

But is it not a fact that it is only because of the promptings of the Australian Labour Party that Mr. Anthony has been persuaded or, indeed, forced to make this visit? Now that he has gone, will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind the particularly strong feelings of the Australians about their exports of canned fruit to this country?

Mr. Rippon

That question contrasts as much with the truth as does the hon. Member's suit with his surroundings. We have known since the end of March about Mr. Anthony's visit, and I can assure the hon. Gentleman that we have been in very close touch at official level and ministerial level over a very long period, and we shall continue to be so.

Mr. Richard

What did the visit achieve?

Mr. Rippon

Successful consultation.

18. Mr. Russell Johnston

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he is satisfied with the access afforded to Members to information concerning European Economic Community proposals before they reach the stage of decisions; and if he will seek ways of extending this.

Mr. Rippon

The Government fully recognise the need for Parliament to receive information about draft Community instruments. I hope that agreement can be reached on a committee to suggest machinery for best meeting the needs of the House.

Mr. Johnston

Does the Chancellor of the Duchy agree that it is perhaps time that the Government made specific proposals for the improvement of the availability of information? Secondly, will he consider discussing with the Leader of the House the possibility of making it as easy for Members of the House to go to Brussels to discuss matters with Community officials as it is for Members to discuss matters with Government officials in this country?

Mr. Rippon

I am all in favour of hon. and right hon. Members on both sides of the House going to Brussels as frequently as possible, if only because they will realise how many things which are said here about the Community and Commission are imaginary and illusionary. As for making information available, the hon. Member knows that we have taken steps to publish the Instruments up to 10th November, 1971, in 42 volumes. We are publishing further Instruments on a continuing basis as fast as possible and are making arrangements which, I hope, will be generally satisfac- tory to right hon. and hon. Members. As from 1st January, 1973, when we shall be full members of the Community, of course all authentic texts will be published in the official journal of the Community.

Mr. Marten

What is the average time delay between a proposal being made in Brussels and its becoming available to hon. Members in the Vote Office?

Mr. Rippon

There is a wide variation according to the controversial nature of the subject.

Mr. Arthur Lewis

The Minister said that he is making the various orders, rules, regulations and the rest of it available, but is he not aware that there are some 2,000 of these, most of which no member of the Government has ever seen and which certainly have not been seen by hon. and right hon. Members on either side of the House, and on which there has been no general debate here? Is he aware that it takes eight or nine months for us even to get copies? What is he doing to expedite this?

Mr. Rippon

As the hon. Member knows, we have had many discussions about the availability of documentation. Considering that we have had to catch up on 10 years of documentation, there has not been as much difficulty as one might have forseen. As for the interests of industries, they have never been in any doubt about the position in matters which are of interest to them.

Mr. Tapsell

Will my right hon. and learned Friend please bear in mind that some of us who are supporters of entry into the European Economic Community nevertheless feel that talk about movement towards monetary and economic union is somewhat premature before the establishment of a European Treasury, a European central bank, and a directly elected European Parliament?

Mr. Rippon

I am absolutely certain that information about these matters will reach the House in enormous volume—not necessarily of literature, but of activities—long before any decisions are taken.

26. Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Foreign Ministers' Conferences have been held to organise the Common Market Autumn Summit Conference; and how many of these he has attended himself.

Mr. Rippon

The most recent meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Ten on 26th June to discuss preparations for the European Summit conference was the fifth in the series. I have attended all five meetings. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs attended the meeting on 26th–27th May.

Mr. Lewis

Has the Minister seen the Press reports—and we can all believe the British Press—that the Foreign Secretary has not attended these meetings as regularly as have his Common Market opposite numbers and that they are upset and annoyed about this, particularly as we have floated the £ without consulting them? Will he confirm or deny the report that the Summit Conference might be put off?

Mr. Rippon

I can deny these anxieties which beat upon the hon. Gentleman's head. They are not the least upset or annoyed and they perfectly well understand the circumstances in which the arrangements have been made. They are pleased at the way things are going and there is no reason to suppose that there will be any postponment of the Summit Conference.

Mr. Callaghan

While I recognise that the Government have committed themselves to financial, monetary and economic integration, and that there is nothing we can do about it at the moment, will the Chancellor of the Duchy please convey at the summit talks that there is absolutely no agreement in this country on financial, economic and monetary integration and that if any agreement is entered into by Her Majesty's Government on behalf of the country, the Government will find themselves unable to carry it out?

Mr. Rippon

The right hon. Gentleman knows—none better—what successive Governments have said about the desirability of moving towards European economic and monetary union. He made some formidable statements on this subject when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, and they are on the record. All we are doing is preparing the agenda for the Summit Conference, not writing the communiqué that will be issued, we hope, after it. All that we have said is that among the subjects to be considered for the agenda of the Summit Conference are economic and monetary union and progress in the political field. In discussing economic and monetary union we must consider not only the internal arrangements for the enlarged Community but also how they fit into the context of international monetary arrangements. All these discussions are going on all the time.

Mr. Callaghan

Will the Chancellor of the Duchy at least give an assurance that the Government will not make the profound mistake of trying to achieve a monetary unit in Europe that will stand either in opposition to the dollar or separate from it? Will he give us an undertaking that at the conference the Government will go for the creation of an international unit that will be universally accepted?

Mr. Rippon

All I can say at this stage is that we are considering the agenda for the Summit Conference, and not the decisions to be taken at it, and are making the appropriate preparations. As the right hon. Gentleman knows, discussions are going on all the time between finance Ministers, monetary committees and so on. We shall just have to see what progress is made. Of course it is recognised that there are divisions of opinion about how fast one should proceed and in which way.