President of France (Hansard, 7 July 1981)

§ Q2. Mr. Dykes
asked the Prime Minister what recent discussions she has had with the new President of the Republic of France.

§ The Prime Minister
I met the new President of France at the European Council in Luxembourg on 29 and 30 June. As I mentioned in my statement to the House on 1 July, I also had talks with him on the morning of 30 June.

§ Mr. Dykes
I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Notwithstanding the political colour of the new Administration in Paris, and following the friendly encounter that my right hon. Friend had with President Mitterrand, is she more confident that friendly and positive relations between Britain and France will allow us to tackle some of the more serious EEC problems such as those concerning the budget and foreign policy co-ordination, as well as certain pressing bilateral matters such as the Channel tunnel?

§ The Prime Minister
It is always good to start on a friendly basis. I do not think that the situation will be much changed when we come to the tough negotiations ahead. Each Head of Government fights his country's corner. France does that, and we do that. In the end, we must arrive at arrangements which are equitable and fair to all partners in the interests of all members of the European Economic Community. That we shall do.

§ Mr. Heffer
When the right hon. Lady met the President of France, did she take the opportunity to discuss the President's programme for employment prospects and putting the French people back to work? Has she learnt anything from that? May we have an assurance that she will carry out a similar policy here, especially to help areas such as Liverpool with its mass unemployment, which is responsible for the terrible outbreaks of violence in the last few days?

§ The Prime Minister
With regard to the French programme, the French President is increasing the public deficit from 1½ per cent. to 3 per cent. of gross domestic product. The deficit in this country—the amount that we have to borrow—is already 4½ per cent. of GDP, so even on that programme the French President will be following a pretty conservative policy. With regard to some of the other policy matters, I do not think that the hon. Member would like me to follow them. They include a 7 per cent. value added tax on food and a 17½ per cent. standard rate tax on ordinary goods and materials.
With regard to the hon. Gentleman's remarks about Liverpool, I do not think that anything would condone the violence that took place. One must totally condemn it. 259 Unemployment may well be a factor, but I do not believe that it is the principal factor. It may well be a factor. As the hon. Gentleman will have heard in the exchange that took place yesterday when my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary was answering questions, there were Opposition Members who said that they did not think that unemployment was the main cause.

§ Mr. Tapsell
Did President Mitterrand refer to his announced plans to increase the amount of French research into higher technology by 50 per cent. over the next five years, from 1.5 per cent. to 2.3 per cent. of their GDP? Is my right hon. Friend aware that that will still leave France far behind Japan, where one company has 10,000 products already in the final stages of research and ready to go into manufacture? In an increasingly competitive world, will my right hon. Friend set in being a study to examine how Britain can improve our own educational training, practical skills and manufacturing capacity in higher technology?

§ The Prime Minister
The short answer to my hon. Friend is that we did not discuss a particular programme. It was generally agreed between Heads of Government that we must put a good deal of emphasis on the new technological industries. As my hon. Friend knows, in this country we, too, are trying to place special emphasis on the new information technologies and have a programme to try to get a computer in every school by the end of next year. That seems a reasonable start. One is only too anxious to put more into investment, particularly into applied technology. In this country we tend to put rather a lot into pure research and perhaps not sufficient into applied research.

§ Mr. McNamara
Did the Prime Minister discuss the fishing dispute with the French President? Did she reaffirm the Government's intention to have a 12-mile limit solely for British fishermen and a 50-mile dominant area for British fishermen? What sort of agreement did she reach with President Mitterrand on that?

§ The Prime Minister
We did not discuss the fishing matter in detail with the President. We made it very clear that it matters a great deal to this country that we get a common fisheries policy as quickly as we can. I had hoped to achieve it before the French elections. I believe that President Mitterrand also wants it for his fishermen, but I believe that there is some quite tough negotiating ahead to achieve what is appropriate, suitable and equitable for the fishermen of both countries.

§ Mr. Aitken
Did my right hon. Friend get the impression from President Mitterrand that the French Socialist Party is firmly committed to NATO and to the retention of France's independent nuclear deterrent? Is not that an interesting and sharp contrast with the policy of the British Labour Party?

§ The Prime Minister
The French Government are not fully militarily integrated into NATO. President Mitterrand is fully committed to his independent nuclear deterrent, and I believe that he is fully committed to spending a proper and full amount on the defence of France and, therefore, playing a full part in the Western Alliance.