Mr. O'NeillTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation defence ministers concerning the future role and possible expansion of the Western European Union.
§ Mr. Ian StewartMy right hon. Friend has had a number of discussions with NATO colleagues on the WEU, both bilaterally and in multilateral fora. He attended a meeting of WEU Foreign and Defence Ministers in the Hague in October 1987 at which the platform on European security interests was approved, and a further WEU meeting in April this year at which it was agreed to issue an invitation to Spain and Portugal to begin discussions about possible accession to the organisation.