§ 15. Mr. James Lamondasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will indicate the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's position on recent proposals in regard to the mutual balanced force reduction talks in Vienna.
§ Mr. RifkindThe Alliance recognises that the East's 1983 proposals contain some progress towards a mutually satisfactory verification regime and has suggested that the two sides should look more closely at their differences in 1042 this area with the aim of bringing their positions closer together. But the West has also pointed out that the East's unwillingness to co-operate in resolving the dispute over the present size of its forces, and hence of the reductions that it must take to reach the agreed goal of parity at 900,000 ground and air forces, remains a major stumbling block to an agreement.
§ Mr. LamondWith the resumption of the talks after a three-month recess, could not the NATO side have been expected to have some proposals to put before the conference? Does the Minister agree that Britain, of all the NATO members, is the stumbling block to a more conciliatory attitude and the hope of making progress after 10 years?
§ Mr. RifkindI entirely reject the second part of the hon. Gentleman's question. The United Kingdom, with other Western countries, is now reviewing the present state of negotiations to see what further proposals should be made. I emphasise that the main stumbling block has been the Soviet delegates' refusal to produce satisfactory figures on the present level of conventional Warsaw pact forces in Europe.