§ Q3. Mr. Spearingasked the Prime Minister when she next plans to make an official visit to Rome.
§ The Prime MinisterI have no immediate plans to do so. I visited Rome on 4 and 5 October and the Italian Prime Minister has accepted my invitation to visit London on 29 and 30 January.
§ Mr. SpearingWhen the right hon. Lady next goes to Rome will it not be for the next meeting of the Council of the Heads of Government? Will she confirm to the House that she will press for the £1,000 million—no more and no less? Will she tell the House whether that figure includes projects such as loans for atomic power stations and can she say why the Government have agreed to increase the Euratom loan to £1,000 million when the Scrutiny Committee decided that that matter should be debated by this House before it was agreed?
Is she aware that this was agreed in the Council of Ministers on 20 December? Does that not break the undertaking given to this House?
§ The Prime MinisterI think that the next meeting of the European Council will probably be in Brussels in March, unless it is advanced specifically to deal with the budget problem. In the light of that the Italian Prime Minister, as President of the Council, is coming to London shortly. Of course, we shall press for vastly increased receipts for this country from the European budget so that we may substantially reduce our net contribution. We have given up no negotiating position.
§ Mr. BudgenWhen my right hon. Friend next goes to Rome will she remind all the countries of the EEC that the principal argument for the creation, and also for the extension, of the EEC was that it would give political solidarity in times of crisis? If the French Government fail to give wholehearted support to our economic measures against Soviet Russia in the 1428 near future does she not think that the British people may draw a very important conclusion about the whole of the EEC?
§ The Prime MinisterThere is an EEC meeting today about what further measures should be taken in relation to our decision to stand by the United States and the forthright observations of President Carter about Afghanistan. That is at present being considered and I think that it would be unwise to pre-empt the result of the meeting.
§ Mr. ShoreThe right hon. Lady used the words "vastly increased" in terms of Community expenditure in Britain in the context of the European budget. Will she make it absolutely plain that her objective remains as it was before the Dublin summit, namely, to get a broad balance between the contribution and the receipts of the United Kingdom, and that she has not abandoned that objective?
§ The Prime MinisterI am not abandoning that objective, but let me be perfectly honest with the right hon. Gentleman and say what I said before. That is still the objective. We go for a genuine compromise, but we have not really very much room for manoeuvre. On the issue of receipts, if the European Economic Community increased our receipts to three quarters of the European average—judged per head of population—we should be home and dry.
§ Mr. Nicholas WintertonIs my right hon. Friend aware that whether or not she has the wholehearted support of this House she has the wholehearted support of the people of this country in her demand that our contribution to the EEC budget should be reduced? Will she go to Rome, and future meetings of the EEC, in the knowledge that she has the support of the vast majority of the British people in demanding that we get justice within the EEC. Does she realise that she should not necessarily listen to members of the Opposition who, when all is said and done, actually [Interruption]—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I had hoped that we would reach question Q5 because that is an open one.
§ Mr. WintertonMay I remind my right hon. Friend that it was the Opposition who renegotiated our entry terms 1429 into the EEC? My right hon. Friend is the only person in the House who has taken a strong stand.
§ The Prime MinisterAs my hon. Friend says, it was the policies of the Opposition which landed us with the contribution that we are now paying. I believe that I made it perfectly clear in Dublin that we were not to be satisfied with a small sum which was grossly inadequate in view of our equitable and justified claim.
§ Mr. FootThe right hon. Lady has left the House in considerable doubt as to whether she is standing by what she originally said. Will she tell us, and give the specific reference, when she referred to a so-called "genuine compromise"—to use her words today—just prior to the Dublin meeting?
§ The Prime MinisterThe phrase was used at Dublin and, I believe, either in my statement or in answer to questions in this House after I had returned from Dublin.