§ Mr. PatnickTo ask the Prime Minister if she will list the achievements of Her Majesty's Government since 1979 with regard to the European Community.
§ The Prime MinisterWe have concentrated on making European Community policies cost-effective, relevant and equitable. At Fontainebleau in 1984 we agreed that the United Kingdom should pay only its fair share of the EC budget. That agreement has already saved the taxpayer £3 billion. In our presidency in 1986, and at the Brussels European Council this February, we secured major reforms of the common agricultural policy, including a binding ceiling on agricultural spending and automatic cost-cutting regimes for all commodities.
We have made it the Community's top priority to complete the single European market for goods and services by 1992 so as to give our industry improved access to important markets in Europe and a better base from which to compete in world markets. We have championed measures to help our citizens such as less regulation, cheaper air fares and higher product safety standards.
We supported the entry of Greece, Spain and Portugal into the Community, thereby underpinning their democracy and strengthening NATO. At British initiative the EC member states have agreed an internationally binding basis for closer co-operation in foreign policy. We 384W have supported moves to liberalise the international trading system in the Uruguay round of GATT negotiations, which was launched in 1986 under the United Kingdom presidency.
By modernising our own economy we have been able to argue from strength for up-to-date policies for the Community as a whole. We have taken Britain from the sidelines to the mainstream of Europe.