HC Deb 22 March 1994 vol 240 cc140-1W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what policy statements have been made to the House since 1979 about majority voting in the EC.

Mr. Goodlad

The information is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Spearing

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in which document Her Majesty's Government were informed of the proposal to change the arrangement in the Community treaties for qualified majority vote in the Council of Ministers; who originated any such proposals; when they were received by Her Majesty's Government; how and by what means these and associated voting arrangements were made public in(a) the United Kingdom and (b) within other member and co-ordinate states of the Community.

Mr. Goodlad

The accession of new countries to the European Union requires substantial treaty amendment, including the amendment of qualified majority voting arrangements. The Union's negotiating position has evolved over several months on the basis of informal presidency texts. The Brussels European Council in December 1993 settled the Union's negotiating position on a number of institutional issues and invited the General Affairs Council to supplement that decision by determining the threshold for the qualified majority of votes within the Council in the context of finalizing the enlargement negotations.

These decisions were recorded in the conclusions of the Council, deposited in the House on 13 December 1993. The qualified majority threshold has been a matter of active negotiation since that time. It is not possible to say whether or when any information on this subject has been made public in other member states or the applicant countries without incurring disproportionate costs.