HC Deb 06 February 1976 vol 904 cc786-8W
Mr. Spearing

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list in the Official Report the various official or semi-official documents related to proposals for further European union and for direct elections, together with their popular titles—for example, Tindemans, Patijn—the publisher and origin, where they are obtainable by the general public and the price of each document.

Mr. Hattersley

The following information relates to documents published recently. There is extensive earlier literature, but much of it is no longer relevant to current discussions in the Community.

On Mr. Tindemans' report on European Union I refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave him on 15th January.

The separate reports on European Union by the Community institutions, which were taken into account by Mr. Tindemans, were published by the Commission in the following supplements to the European Communities Bulletin: Report by the Commission—supplement No. 5/75 (Document A). Reports by the European Parliament, European Court of Justice and the Economic and Social Committee—supplement No. 9/75 (B).

The Report by Mr. S. Patijn on behalf of the European Assembly's Political Affairs Committee was contained in European Assembly Document 368/74. This series of working documents is available from HMSO on annual subscription. Copies of individual documents are normally available free of charge from the European Parliament Information Office in London. The report was the basis for the Assembly's resolution and draft convention on direct elections, the texts of which were published by the Commission in Official Journal No. C.32 of 11th February 1975 (C) and in the Bulletin of the European Communities No. 1 of 1975 (D). In January 1975, the European Assembly also published the texts with explanatory statements in a document entitled "Elections to the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage". Copies are normally available free from the European Parliament Information Office.

The Commission documents referred to above are available either from HMSO, direct and through booksellers, or from the European Communities Press and Information Offices in London, at the following prices:

Document A: £0.60.
Document B: £0.60.
Document C: £0.42.
Document D: £0.60.