§ Lord SHERFIELDasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have any statement to make on the recent meeting in Brussels of the Energy Council of the EEC.
The Earl of GOWRIEThe Energy Ministers had a useful discussion of the matters referred to them by the European Council at its recent meeting in Luxembourg and devoted particular attention to 1245WA the current and prospective situation on the world oil market and the Community's energy strategy for the decade to 1990. Ministers agreed on the need to consider what additional measures might be necessary to improve the Community's capacity to cope with oil market disturbances or supply shortages and asked the Commission to examine this question further and report to them at a Council in September. As part of the strategy for 1990 they also reached agreement on two resolutions of which the first established general Community energy policy guidelines for 1990 and the second sets out the lines of action for 1990 in the field of energy saving. They also invited the Commission to examine member states' energy investment programmes with a view to reporting further to the Council in September on the case for the additional support at Community level which has been suggested in recent Commission communications.