Foreign Ministers (Hansard, 16 June 1976)

§ 27. Mr. Canavan
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he next expects to meet representatives of the EEC.

§ 31. Mr. Marten
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next expects to meet the Foreign Ministers of the EEC.

§ 32. Mr. Crawford
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next intends to met his EEC colleagues.

§ Mr. Crosland
I met other EEC Foreign Ministers at an informal meeting at Senningen on 12th June. The next Foreign Affairs Council will be on 29th and 30th June, but I expect to meet a number of my colleagues on other occasions before then.

§ Mr. Canavan
Will my right hon. Friend discuss with his EEC colleagues the problem regarding overseas students' fees, bearing in mind that we are virtually the only Common Market country to discriminate against foreign students in this way, and that many of the Common Market countries do not charge tuition fees at all? Will he resist any attempts to increase this discrimination, especially in view of reports of a Cabinet study group proposal for a 400 per cent. further increase in overseas students' fees?

§ Mr. Crosland
The last great row in the House about overseas fees was when I was Secretary of State for Education and Science. I do not see why I should take responsibility for a second row. The question of overseas students' fees is under active consideration, but I must insist that it is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science.

§ Mr. Marten
Did the Foreign Secretary notice the remarks, last weekend, of Mr. Gaston Thorn, the current President 536 of the Council of Ministers, who voiced his alarm at the inability of Community Ministers to reach a consensus on so many things? He added that the Community could not last for long like this. Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is a widespread feeling that the Community is now beginning to head for disarray? That expression has been used by many eminent pro-Marketeers, and they are deeply anxious about it. Will the right hon. Gentleman welcome, before he takes the chair next year, an inquiry into why things are not working as expected?

§ Mr. Crosland
I note the hon. Member's extreme solicitude for the successful working of the Community, and I share it. I should be very happy to hear his views at any time about how we can improve matters. I believe that Mr. Thorn, at the end of a long and exhausting day, was unduly gloomy in what he said. But it is proper to say that as a newcomer to these meetings I am also concerned at the difficulty that the Community finds in reaching decisions, and we have reached the stage when we all ought to think out exactly what our objectives are and exactly what are the objectives of the Community. I hope that there will be a debate on this subject tomorrow, and I hope that in a foreign affairs debate that we shall probably have before the end of July the House will turn its attention to what the future of the Community ought to be.

§ Mr. Crawford
Will the Foreign Secretary tell his colleagues in the EEC to do something about the disgraceful discrimination in Europe against Scotch whisky? As a result of that discrimination, sales of whisky in Italy have dropped 36 per cent. over the last year. That is against the letter and spirit of the Treaty of Rome.

§ Mr. Crosland
I shall look into this matter. I must confess that whenever I go to the Continent, whatever I am offered in the way of fine wines of splendid vintage, I drink absolutely nothing but Scotch whisky.

§ Mr. Noble
When my right hon. Friend next meets representatives of the EEC will he discuss with them the multifibre arrangement and the import-sharing agreement? While these may be an acceptable framework for trade in textiles, 537 they place an unfair burden on the British industry, particularly in circumstances in which they share future burdens and not past burdens, and in which there is still a growth of imports when the industry remains in a recession.

§ Mr. Crosland
I am pleased to learn from my right hon. Friend that this is one of the subjects that is to be debated tomorrow.