§ Mr. CashTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how the position of the United Kingdom as a signatory of the North Atlantic treaty will be affected by the implementation of a common foreign security and defence policy, pursuant to article B, title I of the Maastricht treaty.
§ Mr. Garel-JonesThe position of the United Kingdom as a signatory of the North Atlantic treaty will not be affected by a common foreign and security policy.
The Maastricht treaty—article J. 4.4—makes it clear that the foreign and security policy
shall respect the obligations of certain member States under the North Atlantic Treaty and be compatible with the common security and defence policy established within that framework".
§ Mr. CashTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government will lay before Parliament a consolidated text of the treaties establishing the European Economic Community, the ECSC and Euratom, as amended by the treaty of Maastricht.
§ Mr. Garel-JonesThere will be no official Community publication of this nature until after the treaty on European union has been ratified by all 12 member states and has entered into force.
However, in view of the interest expressed in this House and elsewhere, the Government will be producing their own consolidated text of the treaty establishing the European Economic Community as amended by the treaty on European union. This text will be laid before the House in the normal way in good time for the consideration in Committee of the European Communities (Amendment) Bill.
The text will inevitably be informal at this stage and may differ in some minor respects from that produced by the European Community official publications office in due course.