Schengen Agreement (Hansard, 20 January 1998)

§ Mr. Brazier
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the voting arrangement for admitting opt-out Schengen states applying to join Schengen were discussed at any point during the treaty negotiations at Amsterdam in the presence of United Kingdom delegates after the private meeting had taken place between the Dutch Presidency and the Spanish delegation. [23223]

§ Mr. Doug Henderson
I refer the hon. Member to previous statements made on this subject, in particular my reply to the right hon. and learned Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Mr. Howard), 12 December 1997,Official Report, column 710.

§ Mr. Brazier
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs at what hour(a) the Protocol integrating the Schengen Acquis into the Framework of the European Union (b) the protocol on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland pertaining to Schengen and (c) Declaration 45 on Article 4 of the Protocol integrating the Schengen Acquis into the framework of the European Union, were noted as agreed during the course of the Amsterdam negotiations by the Presidency. [23224]

§ Mr. Doug Henderson
The Presidency did not single out either the Protocol integrating the Schengen Acquis into the framework of the European Union or the Protocol on the Application of Certain Aspects of Article 7A of the Treaty Establishing the European Community to the United Kingdom and to Ireland as having been agreed separate from other elements of the text. Declaration 45 was agreed after the Amsterdam European Council by all Member States in the light of the differences of view over Article 4 of the Schengen Protocol and included in the final version of the Treaty signed by all Member States on 2 October 1997.

§ Mr. Bercow
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 11 December 1997,Official Report, column 649, what official response followed the letter of the Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the United Kingdom Permanent Representative of 16 July last. [23612]

§ Mr. Doug Henderson
[holding answer 16 January 1998]: The official response was in the form of a letter from the UK Permanent Representative to the Permanent Representative of the Netherlands.