§ Sir Nicholas FairbairnTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will state when it became the practice to refer to the European Economic Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and Euratom as the European Community; for what reasons this practice was adopted; and what parliamentary authority has been given to this change of usage.
§ Mr. Garel-JonesThe European Economic Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community are collectively referred to as the European Communities, for example in the Single European Act and the European Communities Act, 1972. The term European Community is generally used as a shorthand reference to the European Economic Community, established by the treaty of Rome in 1957. Members of Parliament need no authority to refer to these institutions in whatever way they choose.