§ Mr. Martenasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will give an assurance that the final act of ratification for direct elections will not be moved by the Government until the salaries of the proposed Members of the European Assembly have been fixed.
§ The Prime MinisterI have been asked to reply.
The legal basis for determining the salaries of Members of the directly elected European Assembly will be Article 13 of the Council Act of 20th September 1976. It will not, therefore, be possible for the Council to reach a decision on the matter until the Act has entered into force following ratification by all the member States.