HC Deb 26 February 1970 vol 796 cc414-5W
Miss Quennell

asked the Prime Minister (1) whether Table No. 9 on page 20 and the preceding paragraph 42 is the only table in Command Paper No. 4289 to be based on a Community of Ten in Section II of that White Paper; and which other paragraphs and tables in the White Paper are also based on an enlarged Community, and why;

(2) whether the States involved in the references in Command Paper No. 4289 to a Community of Ten are the six countries comprising the European Economic Community with the United Kingdom, Norway, Eire, and Denmark; and which countries they are;

(3) how the figure for population of 300,000,000 for a Community of Ten is arrived at in Command Paper No. 4289; and if he will tabulate the figures on which it was based.

The Prime Minister

It is a constant assumption throughout the estimates in Cmnd. 4289 of the effects on the United Kingdom of joining the European Economic Community that Denmark, the Irish Republic and Norway, who have also applied for membership, would join the E.E.C. when we did. It was also assumed that other members of E.F.T.A. and Finland would achieve and offer free entry for industrial productsvis-à-vis the resulting Community of Ten.

The following are the latest United Nations estimates of 1968 national population figures for the Ten:

Million
Belgium 9.6
Denmark 4.9
France 49.9
German Federal Republic 60.2
Irish Republic 2.9
Italy 52.8
Luxembourg 0.3
Netherlands 12.7
Norway 3.8
United Kingdom 55.3
Total 252.4

On the latest United Nations projections of these ten countries seem likely to total around 275 million at the end of the 1970s, and the 1968 estimates of the populations of the other E.F.T.A. countries and Finland total some 35 million.