§ 27. Sir Dudley SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the priorities of the United Kingdom presidency of the Western European Union.
§ Mr. WaldegraveOur four main priorities for our presidency of the WEU remain those set out in the reply of my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Putney (Mr. Mellor) to my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Mr. Speed) on 28 June 1988, namely: to elaborate the commitments in the WEU platform in order to make practical contributions to the common defence; to use the WEU as a forum for frank discussions of key European security issues; to develop the WEU as a forum for coordinating European approaches to out of area issues; to secure a satisfactory outcome to the enlargement negotiations with Spain and Portugal.