§ Lord Inglewoodasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they blocked the draft Common Position on a European armaments policy in December last; and, if so, what additional elements, if any, they wish to include in such a policy; or whether their present policy is that there should be no European armaments policy. [HL1367]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal)We supported the conclusions reached by the 15 November 1999 General Affairs Council, which stressed the importance of European armaments cooperation and asked the Union's competent bodies to pursue their work, including the possibility of establishing a common position on European armaments policy in the light of future developments in the field of European Defence and Security policy. We considered that this was the right approach, given the pace of developments both in the restructuring of the European defence industry, and the progress being made in the Prime Minister's initiative to strengthen the European capability to undertake military crisis management.