HL Deb 28 March 1994 vol 553 c40WA
Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to their Written Answer on 8 March (col. WA 99), whether they regard the policy of the European Commission and the Council of Ministers in respect of their failure to undertake rigorous application of the ECSC rules on state aids to certain steel producers as being a full, fair and timely application of the Community's competition rules.

Lord Strathclyde

The Commission has responsibility for monitoring member states' observance of ECSC rules on state aids to steel producers. The agreement on six Article 95 proposals reached on 17 December 1993 is exceptional in that, for the first time, the Council will also have a monitoring role in these cases.

The present standard of the Commission's application of the steel state aids rules is not as full, fair and timely as the Government would wish. We are therefore continuing to press for their more rigorous application as a matter of urgency.