§ 66. Mr. MarlandTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement setting out his reasons for opposition to the proposed European social charter.
§ Mr. CopeI refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington, South (Mr. Butler) on Tuesday 20 June 1989 at column120.
§ 116. Mr. CurryTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what indications he received of the intentions of the French presidency to proceed with the social charter following the EC Employment Ministers meeting in Auxerre; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. CopeI attended the informal meeting of EC Employment Ministers at Auxerre on 10 July and agreed that the United Kingdom would take part in the working group which the French presidency now intend to set up to consider a social charter. Our view remains that the provisional draft charter proposed by the European Commission is unnecessary and unacceptable and that it will do nothing to contribute to job creation which was agreed to be the top social priority at the European Council in Madrid last month. We will be making clear in our discussions during the French presidency the problems and disadvantages we see in the Commission's proposed charter. We will continue to stress the very important point agreed in Madrid that national legislation and voluntary agreements have a legitimate role in achieving the Community's social dimension, and not everything has to be the subject of directives from the European Community.