Eastern Europe (Hansard, 1 February 1990)

§ Mr. Thurnham
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on his recent visit to eastern Europe.

§ Mr. Maude
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs visited east Berlin and the GDR from 22–24 January. He had meetings with the Prime Minister, the Foreign and External Economy Ministers, and called on the acting Head of State. He urged them to ensure that the forthcoming elections in the GDR are truly free and democratic. He also met leading opposition and Church representatives. He put forward a package of measures designed to help the people of the GDR.

§ Mr. Rooker
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the help offered by Her Majesty's Government to countries of eastern Europe in respect of democratic voting systems and parliamentary democracy.

§ Mr. Maude
We are actively considering ways in which we can help the countries of eastern Europe in this field. Groups of Hungarian and Polish politicians have already306W participated in successful seminars on the United Kingdom parliamentary system organised by the Great Britain/East Europe Centre. Budding politicians from Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia and the GDR will attend similar seminars in the coming months to look at our political and parliamentary system in order to help them organise their parties and electoral campaigns.
In addition, the IPU is sending fact-finding missions to these four countries to determine how the IPU could be of assistance in the parliamentary field.

§ Mr. Harry Greenway
To ask the Secretary of State For Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is his latest assessment of the impact of the new political situation in eastern Europe on the conduct of United Kingdom foreign policy.

§ Mr. Maude
We warmly welcome the recent historic changes in eastern Europe and we shall continue to support the political and economic reforms which are now occuring. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs was glad to announce on 22 January that our know-how funds for Poland and Hungary will now be expanded to include the remaining countries of the region, as they move decisively toward democracy and the adoption of market-based economic systems.