§ Mr. James Johnsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement about the meeting of the Finance Council in Brussels on 20th November.
§ Mr. HealeyThe EEC Finance Council met under German presidency on 20th November in Brussels.
The Council had further discussions on the establishment of a European monetary system—EMS—on the basis of a report by the Monetary Committee. There was agreement on the amount of credit needed to support the system—25 billion ECU—but further discussion will be needed on other aspects of the system. In the course of the discussion I emphasised the relevance to EMS of concerted action on growth, the need for balanced obligations between member States and 646W the importance of relating EMS to global monetary stability.
The Council also considered a report submitted by the Economic Policy Committee on concurrent studies of the measures needed to strengthen the economies of the less prosperous member States in the context of EMS. With the support of my Irish and Italian colleagues, I argued that the European Council should decide upon actions or commitments to give effect to the statement in the Bremen conclusions that such measures will be essential if the zone of monetary stability is to succeed. However, other member States were reluctant to commit themselves on the measures and it was agreed that the Presidency would submit a report of the different positions to the European Council.
The Council also heard a short report by Count Lambsdorff of the tripartite conference which he chaired on 9th November.