Western European Union (Hansard, 29 November 1988)

§ 77. Mr. Knapman
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if there have been any changes in the Government's priorities as chairman of the Western European Union.

111. Mr. Robert G. Hughes
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if there have been any changes in the Government's priorities as chairman of the Western European Union.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
Her Majesty's Government established four main priorities at the outset of our Presidency of the Western European Union:

—to elaborate on the commitments in the WEU platform on European security interests in order to make further practical contributions to the common defence;
226
—to use the WEU as a forum for frank discussion of key European security issues;

—to develop the WEU as a forum for co-ordinating European approaches to out of area issues;

—to secure a satisfactory outcome to the enlargement negotiations with Spain and Portugal.

These objectives have not changed. The last of them was achieved with signature on 14 November of a protocol for the accession of Spain and Portugal to the modified Brussels treaty.

§ 116. Mr. Butler
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on recent developments in the Western European Union.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
My right hon. Friends the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary and the Secretary of State for Defence jointly hosted the ministerial council meeting of the WEU in London on 14 November. The major event of this occasion was signature of a protocol for the accession of Spain and Portugal to the modified Brussels treaty. This was one of the main priorities for our Presidency, and its early achievement is gratifying.
Other business included a report on the implementation of the platform on European security agreed at The Hague in October 1987, and a report on progress made in fulfilling the mandate on arms control and defence requirements, given by Ministers at their meeting in The Hague in April 1988. The meeting also noted with approval the success of the joint mine-sweeping operation in the Gulf as a concrete example of the work that the WEU is doing in the defence co-operation field.