HL Deb 24 October 1994 vol 558 c22WA
Lord Tebbit

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether in their management of economic affairs they have restraints placed upon their freedom of action by European Community commitments.

Lord Henley

The Treaty of Rome (as amended at Maastricht) provides for the Council to agree broad guidelines for the economic policies of the member states and of the Community. The most recent guidelines were approved by the Corfu European Council and subsequently adopted by the Council. The guidelines do not place a legal restaint on the Government's management of economic affairs, since they are in the form of non-binding recommendations.

The treaty also provides for the Council to decide which member states have an excessive deficit. In stage 2 of economic and monetary union, and unless and until the United Kingdom decides to participate in stage 3, the excessive deficit procedures do not place a legal restraint on the Government's management of economic affairs. The Council cannot go beyond the issue of non-binding recommendations to the United Kingdom on bringing the excessive deficit to an end within a given period.