§ 40. Mr. BeithTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress he has made during discussions on European monetary union; and if he will make a statement.
§ 69. Sir David SteelTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on progress during recent discussions on his proposals for a European currency unit.
§ Mr. MajorSince I set out our proposals for a hard ecu on 20 June, I have met my fellow Finance Ministers a number of times to promote the United Kingdom approach to progress beyond stage 1. A consensus is emerging that, as I have argued, more convergence in economic performance is needed before moving beyond stage 1; and there is growing support for our view that objective criteria are needed to determine when sufficient convergence has been achieved.
I will continue to argue forcefully for the United Kingdom approach in the run-up to the intergovernmental conference.