§ Q29. Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Prime Minister what progress has been made in the reform of the Common Market since the Stuttgart summit; and if she will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterAs I told the House on 22 June, Heads of Government agreed at Stuttgart that a major negotiation would take place on the most pressing problems facing the Community. Intensive discussions have been taking place since then on measures to ensure greater budgetary discipline and effective control of agricultural and other Community expenditure, measures to assure a more equitable sharing of the burden of 439W financing the Community budget, the Community's requirements in terms of own resources and further Community action in other fields. These discussions are still going on and will be submitted to the next European Council in Athens on 4 to 6 December.
My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs has put forward the British Government's specific ideas for a safety net scheme for limiting net contributions to the Community budget; for a strict financial guideline for controlling the growth of agricultural expenditure, and for the further development of Community policies. A full summary of the three papers was published in the October supplement of the "Economic Progress Report" and placed in the Library of the House.