§ Mr. GillTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish a statement on the outcome of the ministerial meeting of the intergovernmental conference on political union on 4 November.
§ Mr. HurdMy hon. Friend the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and I attended a ministerial meeting of the intergovernmental conference on political union on 4 November. The meeting discussed the presidency's proposals for increased co-operation on interior and justice matters. A number of member states, in particular Germany, wish the Community to take responsibility for all co-operation in this area. That includes police co-operation, immigration and asylum policy. I agreed that the countries of Europe must work more closely together to combat illegal immigration and asylum and organised crime. Valuable work already goes on, and must be strengthened. But I made clear that we do not believe that bringing these areas into Community competence was necessary or desirable.
There was also a discussion of the presidency's proposed amendments to the social chapter of the treaty of Rome. I said that the Community needed a social dimension, but did not need any treaty change to achieve it. I again pointed to the undesirability of trying to introduce measures in the social area, especially in industrial relations, which might cut across national practices and which could lead to unsustainable costs across the Community.
These and other issues relating to the intergovernmental conference on political union will be discussed further at a meeting of Foreign Ministers to be held in Noordwijk in the Netherlands on 12 to 14 November.
An inter-institutional meeting between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament was held on 5 November, following the 4 November ministerial meeting. My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs represented the Government.