TREATY ON EUROPEAN UNION: COMMON DEFENCE POLICY

HL Deb 09 May 1994 vol 554 cc81-2WA

Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether in the light of developments since the signing of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union they have any reservations in principle concerning the framing of a common defence policy.

Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

The question does not arise at this time. It was agreed at Maastricht that the Common Foreign and Security Policy would include

Cost of United Kingdom Military Participation in United Nations Peacekeeping
(£ Million)
	1989–90	1990–91	1991–92	1992–93	1993–94
UNFICYP (Cyprus)2	24.84	26.34	29.93	33.78	27.12
UNPROFOR (Croatia/Bosnia)1	—	—	—	64.31	80.00
UNTAG (Namibia)	1.25	—	—	—	—
MINURSO (Western Sahara)	—	—	0.06	0.61	0.31
UNIKOM (Iraq/Kuwait)	—	—	0.03	0.82	0.74
UNTAC/UNAMIC (Cambodia)	—	—	0.01	0.83	3.45
Gross cost	26.09	26.34	30.03	100.35	111.62
Reimbursed by United Nations	2.50	3.09	5.01	2.70	27.12
Net cost	23.59	23.25	25.02	97.65	84.50
1 Placed on United Nations assessed contributions on 1 April 1993.
1 Placed on United Nations assessed contributions on 15 June 1993.

"the eventual framing of a common defence policy" (J.4.1). The Treaty provides for the possibility of a revision of Article J.4 in 1996. The Maastricht Treaty also provides that matters with defence implications are dealt with not by the Twelve but by the Western Union, an intergovernmental body with its own independent treaty base.