§ Mr. GillTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his statement in the House of 11 July,Official Report, column692–93, on Chancellor Kohl's views on the old idea of a United States of Europe, what assessment he has made of the new German policies for the future of Europe and of the recent comment by the German ambassador to Moscow, Otto von der Gablentz, on national sovereignty.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryWe look forward to close co-operation with the Germans during their presidency on such issues as competitiveness, deregulation, closer co-operation with central Europe, open markets and subsidiarity. I have not seen a text of what the German ambassador in Moscow is suggested to have said, but I certainly would not agree that
national sovereignty is becoming irrelevant and meaningless". Such comments would be hard to reconcile with statements by Chancellor Kohl, first, in a speech in Schwäbisch hall on 4 May 1994, that he "does not want a European superstate… In the Europe of the future, we will remain securely rooted in our homeland." or secondly, in a speech to the Bundestag on 11 November 1993, thatUnity in diversity is the only sensible alternative to dreary centralism.