HC Deb 13 January 1993 vol 216 cc909-10
10. Mr. Gapes

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will next be attending a meeting of the EC foreign affairs troika to discuss the future of EC common foreign and security policy.

Mr. Hurd

The 12 Foreign Ministers meet Lord Owen in Paris this evening to discuss events in the former Yugoslavia as part of the continuing co-operation beteen Governments on a number of foreign and security issues.

Mr. Gapes

When the Foreign Secretary meets his colleagues will he draw any lessons from the failure of the Western European Union to impose effective sanctions to stop oil reaching Serbia, as it has during recent months? Will he, from that experience, draw lessons about the role of the WEU assembly—the putative defence arm of the European Community? Will he also discuss with his colleagues the contingency plans to be put into operation if military action is taken in the next few weeks? If that happens, the WEU will be evacuating the humanitarian forces who will be the meat in the sandwich—inadequately protected and vulnerable to attacks from Serbs and others as a result of retaliation.

Mr. Hurd

We believe that oil reached Serbia and Montenegro from the Adriatic before the warships on patrol there were given powers by the Security Council to stop and search. We believe that the stop and search resolution has been effective. We must now concentrate on the supplies that are still coming down the Danube, which will certainly be one of our main themes this evening, although pressure there has increased.

On the hon. Member's second point, I should make it clear—as my right hon. and learned Friend the Minister of State has already done—that we do not believe that a political answer can be imposed on Bosnia by military force. That is not the purpose of having troops there, and nor will it be.

Sir Michael Marshall

What consideration does my right hon. Friend believe the troika will be able to give to the issue of common security and foreign policy in the Community in relation to the work of the proposed Assises—the new Community parliamentary Assembly? What progress has my right hon. Friend to report and what hopes does he hold for the future?

Mr. Hurd

I do not think that that will specifically be a matter for the troika. The CSCE has decided in principle to have a parliamentary Assembly. I have mixed feelings about that prospect, as a large number of parliamentary assemblies are already attached to different organisations, but we must wait to see how we proceed on that issue. I do not think that it is a particularly urgent matter at present.

Mr. Faulds

In view of the murderous treatment of the Bosnian Muslims by the Christian Serbs, would it not be advisable for the right hon. Gentleman to discuss with his fellow Foreign Ministers the dangers and implications of the reactions of the vast Islamic community throughout the whole world?

Mr. Hurd

As the hon. Gentleman says, that reaction is certainly sharp, and we have been in close touch with a number of Governments, particularly the Turkish, Saudi and Egyptian—as the hon. Gentleman knows, a meeting on that theme is being held in Dakar. We are well aware of the reaction.