HL Deb 20 December 1990 vol 524 cc56-7WA
The Viscount of Oxfuird

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will publish in the Official Report a statement on the outcome of the Foreign Affairs Council on 18th December.

The Earl of Caithness

A meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council took place in Brussels on 18th and 19th December. My honourable friend the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs represented the United Kingdom.

The Council discussed Mediterranean policy and reached informal agreement on the aid and trade aspects of the Community's relations with the Mediterranean for 1991/6. Informal agreement was also reached on the Asia and Latin America programme for 1991/5, and the resources to be allocated to it.

The Council adopted negotiating mandates for Association Agreements with Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Negotiations will begin on 20th December. A mandate was also agreed for the negotiations of a customs union with San Marino. The Council reviewed progress on the negotiations between the Community and the European Free Trade Association on the creation of a European Economic Area and endorsed steps to move the negotiations forward at the EC/EFTA ministerial meeting on 19th December.

The Council reached agreement on the negotiating mandate for a new Financial Protocol to the EC/Yugoslavia Co-operation Agreement. A meeting of the EC/Yugoslavia Co-operation Council took place in the margins, as did a meeting of the EC/Egypt Co-operation Council.

On the Gulf, Ministers reaffirmed their position that any meeting between the Iraqi Foreign Minister and the EC Presidency must follow and not precede a meeting between President Bush and the Iraqis.