HC Deb 25 October 1989 vol 158 cc839-40
10. Mr. Norman Hogg

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last met the Spanish Prime Minister, Felipe Gonzalez, and if the social charter was discussed on that occasion.

Mr. Maude

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs has not yet met the Spanish Prime Minister.

Mr. Hogg

Is the Minister aware of the briefing given by Commissioner Papandreou in London last week, when she emphasised the flexibility of the social charter and spoke of the plurality of cultures that it contains? Will the Minister give an undertaking that the Government will learn something about consensus and will seek by 1992 to produce a commitment to Europe that at least will provide equality for all the people rather than just for some?

Mr. Maude

I am aware of the briefing that Commissioner Papandreou gave in London last week. The problem is that it is difficult to recognise the social charter, as it is drafted, from the words that the commissioner used.

Mr. Teddy Taylor

Does my hon. Friend agree that he and the Spanish Foreign Secretary should publish explanatory notes for British and Spanish trade unionists and others so that they can be aware that when the directives go through workers who believe that they are not getting union recognition rights, such as those at GCHQ and elsewhere, will be able to go to the European Court instead of this Parliament or their employers, and those who believe that they are not being paid satisfactory wages can go to the European Court instead of this Parliament or their employers? Why do not the Government publish a paper that explains what it is all about so that the British people can know before the directives go through?

Mr. Maude

We have been at some pains to set out our concerns about the draft social charter as it is now framed. Our concerns include those to which my hon. Friend has referred. The more widely these issues are understood, the better it will be.

Mr. Robert Hughes

Will the Minister take the earliest opportunity to express to Mr. Felipe Gonzalez the great outrage in Britain at Spain's refusal to return 30 children in defiance of court orders awarding custody, and despite the fact that Spain is a signatory to both the international convention and the Hague convention on custody? Will the hon. Gentleman ask the Spanish Government immediately to enact domestic legislation that will give effect to the treaties that they have signed?

Mr. Maude

The hon. Gentleman has raised an important and serious matter which I would wish to examine closely.

Mr. Cash

When my hon. Friend met the Spanish Prime Minister, did the issue of minimum wages within the European Community arise? Did he address the issue in terms of the effect that it would have on jobs and investment in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the European Community? Did he make it clear that the consequence of having a national minimum wage would be to create havoc for employment prospects here and elsewhere in the Community?

Mr. Maude

The burden of my original answer was that my right hon. Friend had not yet met the Spanish Prime Minister. The points that my hon. Friend makes are very much those with which we seek to argue the case against a prescriptive social charter. I was interested to read in today's newspapers that the UNICE, the Europeanwide body of employers, reflects many of the same concerns, especially the disadvantageous effect that a minimum wage provision would have on the poorer parts of the Community.