Mr. R. C. Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps are being taken by the British Government to facilitate the accession of Greece to the EEC; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HattersleyAlong with all our Community partners, the Government welcomed the Greek application for membership. This has our unreserved support. We agreed in the Council of Ministers in February that preliminary work should be undertaken rapidly to allow negotiations to be opened as soon as possible. This preliminary work is now in hand. There may be a formal opening before the summer holidays but substantive negotiations are unlikely to get under way until the autumn.