§ Mr. Squireasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) further to his statement on 23 February, Official Report, c. 944, if he will list the grounds on which the Council of Ministers agreed that it would not be possible for a unified system to apply for the elections to the European Parliament in 1984;
(2) when the question of a unified election system for the European Parliament was first raised by Her Majesty's Government at a Council of Ministers meeting;
(3) if he has any indication to date that other members of the European Community intend to move towards harmonising voting systems for election to the European Parliament.
§ Mr. RifkindThe European Parliament drew up its proposals for a uniform electoral system in March 1982. These were first discussed by the Council of Ministers on 26 April 1982.
The Council of Ministers concluded, at its meeting on 21 February, that, in view of the number of diffiult 476W problems which still had to be resolved, it would not now be possible to reach agreement on a uniform system in time for member states to implement the necessary legislation before the 1984 elections.
No member state has so far indicated that it intends to change its electoral procedures in advance of agreement being reached in the Council on a unified basis for doing so.