HL Deb 14 November 1972 vol 336 cc592-4

2.41 p.m.

LORD BALOGH

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the communiqué of the meeting of the Heads of State or of Government of countries of the enlarged Community means that the date of the implementation of resolutions of the Ministers of the Community of March 26, 1972, concerning the European Regional Fund has been postponed from October 1, 1972 to December 31, 1972, and that of European Monetary Co-operation Fund from June 30, 1972 to April 1, 1973, and what is the reason for this postponement.

THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD DRUMALBYN)

My Lords, no postponement is involved in either case. As regards the European Monetary Co-operation Fund, until the decision was taken at the Summit Conference to institute it before April 1, 1973, no commitment existed to establish such a Fund by any given date. As regards the European Regional Development Fund, the Community of Six had previously resolved to take by October 1, 1972, certain decisions of principle relating to the establishment of a regional Development Fund or some alternative system for regional development using the appropriate Community resources. That proposal has now, in our view, been overtaken by the quite separate Summit decision to establish a Regional Development Fund for the Enlarged Community before December 31, 1973.

LORD BALOGH

My Lords, while thanking the Minister for that reply, may I point out that it is obvious that there has been a postponement, because the Ministers had previously agreed on exactly the same thing that the Summit Conference agreed on—the postponed date.

LORD DRUMALBYN

My Lords, I think there is a misunderstanding here. As I have said, there was never a firm date for the implementation of the resolutions. As the noble Lord is well aware, the resolution of March 21, 1972, laid down provisions for consideration by the Council of Ministers. Implementation would not necessarily have followed immediately even if those had been agreed upon.

LORD BALOGH

My Lords, does the Minister not realise that he is mistaken? Obviously, the resolution of March, 1972, did exactly the same thing as the Summit Conference, but with earlier dates than those in the Summit Conference resolution?

LORD DRUMALBYN

My Lords, we really cannot argue in detail about this matter. I shall be happy to send the noble Lord the relevant extracts from the resolution of March 21, 1972.

LORD SHINWELL

My Lords, did I understand the noble Lord, Lord Drumalbyn, to say that there was no firm date for the implementation of the regional development arrangement? If that is so, why the euphoria on the part of the Prime Minister about the advantage of the decision that was taken?

LORD DRUMALBYN

My Lords, regional development funds already existed in the Community of the Six, and some existing funds of the Community make payments of a regional nature on which we shall be drawing from January 1, 1973.

LORD GLADWYN

My Lords, will the Government do their utmost to see that the two deadlines in regard to the Regional Fund and the Monetary Fund in 1973 are in fact met?

LORD DRUMALBYN

My Lords, obviously this will be one of our cardinal aims.

LORD BALOGH

My Lords, is it not true that the veto applies to any of these proposals by the British Government, in that both the Germans and the French are opposed to the extension of the regional funds to the degree that the British want?

LORD DRUMALBYN

My Lords, all these are matters which will have to be discussed, once the analysis that the Commission has been asked to do of the problems of regions in the enlarged Community comes before Ministers.

LORD BALOGH

My Lords, does the Minister not realise that his uncertainty about these problems casts a very dark shadow indeed on the policy of Her Majesty's Government?

LORD DRUMALBYN

My Lords, there is always uncertainty about the future. We have to reach agreement on what is best for the Community as a whole. But the commitments in the Summit Conference are perfectly clear: that the Regional Development Fund will have regard not only to agricultural problems but to industrial problems as well.