§ Mr. DykesTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on progress in the current negotiations on European political, economic and monetary union leading up to the ministerial European Council on 8 December.
§ Mr. Garel-JonesFollowing the European Council in Luxembourg on 28–29 June, the Netherlands presidency has made good progress in leading negotiations on both political and economic and monetary union towards settlement at the European Council in Maastricht on 9 to 10 December.
On political union, the presidency has held a number of ministerial sessions of the intergovernmental conference since July and has made good progress on the basis of the Luxembourg presidency's text produced in June. A revised presidency text was produced on 9 November. It will be for the presidency to reconcile the differing views of member states in order to achieve an agreement acceptable to all at Maastricht.
On economic and monetary union discussions are now focussed on a composite text of draft treaty amendments circulated by the Netherlands presidency on 28 October. The text is a useful basis for further negotiations, but neither the United Kingdom nor other member states are committed to any particular part of its contents.