HC Deb 16 July 1975 vol 895 cc1498-9
30. Mr. Jay

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has any statement to make on the EEC Commission report proposing the establishment of an independent EEC Government.

Mr. Hattersley

Her Majesty's Government's views on the future development of the European Communities remain as set out in Command 6003. The Commission's report will no doubt be taken into account by Mr. Tindemans in the preparation of the report which he is to produce for the Community Heads of Government. Copies of the Commission's report have been made available in the Vote Office.

Mr. Jay

Does my right hon. Friend agree with the hon. Member for Saffron Walden (Mr. Kirk) that the British electorate did not vote in favour of turning the Common Market into a political federation in the recent referendum?

Mr. Hattersley

Yes, Sir.

Mr. Marten

Does that then mean that the Government are against a federal Europe?

Mr. Hattersley

Yes, Sir, it means exactly that. But it also means that the Government understand that the prosperity and prospects of the EEC are likely in some ways to be influenced by the progress we make towards integration on a number of specific matters. The Government will be prepared to look at these specific items of integration to see whether or not they are in Great Britain's interest.

Mr. George Cunningham

A few minutes ago the Minister said that the Commissioners are the civil servants of the Community. Does he consider that it is in keeping with that that one of the British Commissioners recently called for further unification of the Centre and the Right in the Community, to strengthen their side against the Left?

Mr. Hattersley

The reason I described the Commissioners as civil servants is that they do not have executive power to carry out major decisions without the approval of elected members. They are a different sort of civil servant from ours, in that they may from time to time say things which I would regard as inappropriate for British civil servants to say. They may say things which are undesirable, or even bizarre; but that does not mean that they are not civil servants.

Sir D. Walker-Smith

Is not the central fact that any change in the institutional structure of the Community and, a fortiori, any initiation of an independent EEC Government, requires an amendment to the EEC Treaty, under Article 236, and that that requires ratification by each member State? Is not the really important thing that the form and the pace of institutional development be fully in accord with the will of the peoples and parliaments of the member States?

Mr. Hattersley

If I can translate what I believe to be the right hon. and learned Gentleman's very precise question into my own crude language, I think he was saying that the speed with which we move towards any of these imagined federations or unified Governments can be determined by the House, dictated by our will on the speed. If he is saying that, I wholeheartedly agree with him.