§ 2.48 p.m.
§ LORD WIGGMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
The Question was as follows:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether in their current discussions with the German Democratic Republic they have taken steps to safeguard the position of the United Kingdom in the light of the Protocol to the Treaty of Rome, relating to German internal trade and connected problems, which allows goods to flow into Europe from Eastern Europe free of duty.
§ THE MINISTER of STATE, FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE)My Lords, our discussions with the German Democratic Republic which ended on February 8 concerned the establishment of diplomatic relations, and commercial relations were not discussed in any detail. Apart from the trade arrangements between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, the Common External Tariff applies to Eastern European goods.
§ LORD WIGGMy Lords, I beg your Lordships' pardon, I am not accustomed to your ways. Is the honourable Lady aware—
§ LORD WIGGMy Lords, is the Minister aware that her Answer completely misses the point? Is she aware that in 1957, when the Treaty of Rome was negotiated, President Adenauer was concerned with only one question: the reunification of Germany? The result was that trade with East or West Germany was treated as a whole. Is the Minister aware that East Germany is now the seventh largest trading country in the world; that billions of dollars are pouring into Europe, and probably into this country, not only from East Germany, but also from the Communist bloc and 1541 from countries like Sweden? What are the Government going to do about it? No Minister has made reference to the position, and the Opposition have completely ignored it. Is the noble Minister aware that, strangely enough, even papers like the Daily Express, who take a realistic attitude about the Common Market, have completely failed to notice the matter? That is not so in the American Press, or the German Press or the French Press.
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, I think I should answer the main question put by the noble Lord. It is certainly true that in 1957 the E.E.C. agreed provisions on inter-zonal trade in the Protocol to the Treaty of Rome, which relates to German internal trade and connected problems; and this can be amended only by agreement with all the members of the Community.
§ LORD WIGGMy Lords, in the meantime what steps are Her Majesty's Government taking to safeguard the position of this country? Or do they not care a damn so long as Mr. Heath gets his Common Market?
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, no doubt the noble Lord will be aware that a great deal is being done by Her Majesty's Government to safeguard the interests of this country in another context: that of currency. But commercial relations between the Community and Eastern European countries will be considered in the E.E.C., and there is no doubt that inter-zonal trade will be taken into account.
§ LORD RHODESMy Lords, is not the noble Baroness aware that the Government will have to be a good deal more explicit on this point than hitherto? Would she not agree that, while the countries under the Protocol of Rome are called a Common Market, they have no common rules for imports? Does the noble Baroness know of the intention of Japan to ring the Common Market with plants—the first is on its way up in Roumania—for the making of consumer durables? As it exists at present, the loophole which has been brought to the attention of the Government—
§ LORD RHODESI beg your Lordships' pardon. You will listen about this before you have done, my Lords.
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, I fear I must ask the noble Lord, Lord Rhodes, for whom we all have immense respect, to put his supplementary question to my noble friend in reasonably succinct form.
§ LORD RHODESI will, my Lords, Will the noble Baroness tell us whether there are common rules for imports from the countries on the periphery of the Common Market?
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, I said in my original reply that the Common External Tariff of the Common Market applies to Eastern European goods.
§ THE EARL OF LAUDERDALEMy Lords, may I ask the noble Baroness a question which is brief? Could she make absolutely clear that there is no channel from Eastern Europe through East Germany into the E.E.C. via West Germany which, is it were, dodges the Common External Tariff?
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, there is no formal machinery to control the re-export of goods entering the Federal Republic of Germany from East Germany, but there are very heavy tax disincentive measures. I understand that this is not a problem at present and has very rarely given rise to difficulties up to the present time.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, is the noble Baroness saying that when we passed the E.E.C. Bill recently in effect we were having a free trade area with Eastern Germany? Was that point made clear at the time the Bill passed through this House?
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, that is not so, because, if the noble Lord will recall the original reply, he will know that I said that the Common External Tariff applies to Eastern European goods. The problem raised by my noble friend was about the export of goods from East Germany into 1543 West Germany and then possibly into the Community. I gave the reply to that.
§ LORD WIGGMy Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that her reply is quite in keeping with the habits of her Department?—see nowt, know nowt. Is she aware that there are acres upon acres of warehouses in Hamburg stuffed with goods from all over the Communist bloc and from countries such as Sweden, all waiting to pour into Europe? Is she also not aware that it would be in keeping with the dignity of the British Government if they were as keen about the interests of the British Commonwealth as the Germans are about the interests of Germany? Furthermore, is she not aware that if it is possible for Germany to be treated as one, so it should be possible to treat the British Commonwealth as one?
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, no doubt the noble Lord will be aware of the great efforts, and successful efforts, made by Her Majesty's Government for the Commonwealth in connection with the European Communities. But so far as this particular Question is concerned, there is no right of tariff-free trade with other E.E.C. States including the United Kingdom. This is recognised by paragraph 3 of the Protocol to the Treaty of Rome on German Internal Trade and Connected Problems, which prescribes that each Member State is entitled to take "appropriate measures to prevent difficulties arising from it."