Mr. Andy StewartTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish in theOfficial Report a statement on the outcome of the Foreign Affairs Council held on 24–25 October.
§ Mrs. ChalkerMy right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign Secretary and I attended the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 24–25 October. Following agreement on the framework regulation in June, the Council held the first discussion of the implementing regulations for the Community's structural funds. Agreement was reached on the thresholds for the minimum sizes of projects and programmes eligible for support from the funds. All other issues were referred back for further consideration in Coreper, with a view to agreement being reached at the Foreign Affairs Council in November.
The Council finalised the decision to establish a court of first instance, which will relieve the burden on the Court of Justice. Its jurisdiction will cover staff, competition, subsidies and steel cases. The question whether jurisdiction should be extended also to anti-dumping cases will be reconsidered after the court has been running for two years.
There was a preliminary discussion of the Community's generalised system of preferences for developing countries for 1989. There will be further discussion at the November Council.
The president of the Social Affairs Council reported on the informal meeting of Labour and Social Affairs Ministers in Athens on 20 September.
The Council also agreed that the November Council should review developments in the Community's textile industry, on the basis of a Commission report.