§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Prime Minister if she will ask Ministers to report in the appropriate explanatory memorandum any instances in which an EEC Commission proposal appears to fall outside the Commission's sphere of responsibility.
§ The Prime MinisterThe Government agree that departmental explanatory memoranda should draw attention to the Treaty power on which the Commission has stated that a proposal relies, especially in cases where there may be substantial doubt about the Treaty basis of a proposal. To attempt to give a considered opinion on the vires of any proposal at such an early stage would, however, be a matter of complex legal judgment which might delay unacceptably the provision of the memorandum.