HL Deb 11 February 1999 vol 597 cc36-7WA
Lord Shore of Stepney

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many times in the Council of Ministers and on what issues have the member states of the European Union made use of their non-Treaty veto, embodied in the Luxembourg Compromise of 1966; and when that veto was last exercised by the United Kingdom Government. [HL867]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean

No formal records are kept by the Government or the Council Secretariat of the occasions when member states have invoked the Luxembourg Compromise.

The United Kingdom has invoked the Luxembourg Compromise twice, in July 1978 and May 1982.