HL Deb 08 February 1974 vol 349 cc933-4WA
LORD O'HAGAN

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they accept that the Council of Ministers of the E.E.C. should, ultimately, meet in public when acting as a legislature.

THE MINISTER OF STATE, FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE)

So long as the functions of the institutions of the Community remain as at present, for the reasons given in my reply on July 25, 1973, public meetings of the Council would be inappropriate.