§ Mr. CashTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on proposals by the French Presidency at the IGC on Institutional Reform relating to self-employed people. [138728]
§ Mr. VazThe Government have made it quite clear that it will insist on retaining unanimity for Social Security, including for the categories of people covered by the Social Security provisions.
§ Mr. CashTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on proposals from the French Presidency at the IGC on Institutional Reform to extend the coordination of national tax systems.[138730]
§ Mr. VazThe Government have made it quite clear that it will insist on retaining unanimity for decisions on taxation.
§ Mr. CashTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the proposals in the progress report on the IGC relating to the WTO and the conclusion of international trade agreements.[138726]
§ Mr. VazThe Presidency's proposals relate principally to the extension of the Common Commercial Policy to include services and intellectual property. This could bring benefits to British industry by improving access to overseas markets, and the Government is therefore looking carefully at the options for change.
§ Mr. CashTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the proposals for the co-ordination of social security systems contained in the progress report on the IGC on Institutional Reform.[138727]
§ Mr. VazThe Government have made quite clear that they will insist on retaining unanimity for social security.
769W
§ Mr. CashTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on proposals in the Progress report on the IGC on Institutional Reform relating to(a) political parties at the European Union level, (b) the European Court of Justice, (c) the Court of Auditors, (d) the co-operation procedure and (e) the Committee of the Regions. [138722]
§ Mr. VazOn the first point, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Mr. Spring) on 13 November 2000,Official Report, column 513W.
The Government have made clear its position on IGC issues in its White Paper, and most recently in the Government's response to the Foreign Affairs Committee report on the intergovernmental Conference (published as a Command Paper on Friday 27 October). I refer the hon. Member to these.
§ Mr. CashTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the proposals concerning enhanced cooperation in the Progress Report on the IGC on Institutional Reform, with particular reference to the impact on member states not taking part in enhanced cooperation.[138676]
§ Mr. VazI refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 2 November 2000,Official Report, column 557W.
§ Mr. CashTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what his policy is on the number of votes to be required for a blocking minority under QMV at the proposed IGC on Institutional Reform;z[138677]
(2) if he will make a statement on proposals for a double simple majority voting rule to be discussed at the IGC on Institutional Reform. [138678]
§ Mr. VazThe Government set out their position on vote reweighting in the IGC White Paper that they published in February.
I refer the hon. Member to this.
§ Mr. CashTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on proposals in the Progress report on the IGC on Institutional Reform relating to(a) transport issues and (b) economic and financial cooperation with non-EU countries.[138735]
§ Mr. VazI refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) on 30 October 2000,Official Report, column 238W.