§ Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the recent discussions of the NATO Defence Ministers at Brussels, particularly concerning proposals for an increase in real terms of military spending of the member States, the admission of new members to NATO, including Spain, rejection of the Warsaw Pact proposal that both blocs should pledge not to use military weapons first and the adoption of the AWACS system.
§ Mr. MulleyI refer my hon. Friend to the answers that I gave to the hon. Members for Haltemprice (Mr. Wall) and for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton) on 14th December about the proceedings of the NATO Defence Planning Committee meeting held on 7th–8th December—[Vol. 922, c. 560, and c. 654–55.]
The admission of new members to NATO and the recently published Warsaw Pact proposals on the renunciation of the first use of nuclear weapons are matters for the North Atlantic Council. A copy of the Communique issued at the end of the meeting my right hon. Friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary attended on 9th-10th December has also been placed in the Library.