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European Commission
24. Mr. Winnick : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the latest situation over the position of the presidency of the European Union Commission.
36. Mr. Home Robertson : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's position concerning candidates for President of the European Commission.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The German presidency is consulting other member states to find a candidate for the next president of the Commission who meets with the common accord of all 12 member states. We are playing a full part in those consultations.
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European Union (Enlargement)
25. Mr. Bates : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will outline the benefits to the United Kingdom of the accession of four new member states expected on 1 January 1995.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The accession of these states will fulfil in part the Government's vision of an EU more widely representative of the peoples of Europe. Their membership will consolidate the benefits to United Kingdom business and consumers already flowing from the European Economic Area. Three of the four will be net contributors to the Community budget, and all are likely to share the United Kingdom's concern for budget discipline. Their accession will add extra weight to the group of member states which favour free trade over protectionism, and subsidiarity over centralism.
28. Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the current situation regarding the enlargement of the European Union.
30. Mr. Keen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the current situation regarding the enlargement of the European Union.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : A treaty of accession to the EU was signed with Norway, Austria, Sweden and Finland at the Corfu European Council on 24 June. Provided that referendums in the Nordic countries are positive-- the Austrian people have already voted in favour of membership--all four will accede to the Community on 1 January 1995. The Corfu European Council conclusions included the statement that the next phase of enlargement will involve Malta and Cyprus. The Commission has been asked to prepare opinions on recent Polish and Hungarian applications for EU membership.
Rwanda
26. Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the impact of French troops on the situation in Rwanda.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : As I said today, we have supported the French initiative to send a humanitarian mission.
EU Intergovernmental Conference
29. Mr. Lidington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Government's preparations for the 1996 intergovernmental conference of the European Union.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : We will participate in the study group which will convene in mid-1995 to prepare for the conference.
Iraq
31. Mrs. Clwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the effect of sanctions on Iraq.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Sanctions are imposed on Iraq in order to ensure that the regime meets its international
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obligations. Iraqi co-operation with United Nations weapons inspectors resulted from sustained international pressure including the determined application of sanctions.We are concerned by reports of suffering among the civilian population. For that reason food and medicines are exempt from sanctions and we have contributed over £66 million to international relief efforts since April 1991.
We call on the Iraqi regime to make the purchase of humanitarian supplies a priority, to lift the internal embargo on northern Iraq and accept United Nations offers to allow a limited sale of oil in return for further aid.
Sir Michael Neubert : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations he has received about the continued detention of Kuwaiti prisioners in Iraq ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : I met a delegation from the Kuwaiti National Assembly on 29 June to discuss this issue. We raise the plight of Kuwaiti and other missing persons at the United Nations at every possible opportunity, for example when the Security Council last reviewed sanctions against Iraq on 17 May. Our acting head of mission at the United Nations told the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister in New York on 12 July that British Ministers remained seriously concerned about the detainees and expected Iraq to produce information on all the outstanding files. The International Committee of the Red Cross chaired a meeting of the tripartite commission-- coalition countries, Iraq and the ICRC--in Geneva on 1 July at which the Iraqi delegation gave its initial response to 71 out of the 609 inquiry files passed to Iraq by the ICRC over 18 months ago. We are demanding that Iraq offer information on the other files very soon. A further tripartite commission will be held in two months' time to review progress.
Middle East
32. Mr. Cyril D. Townsend : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Britain's support for the Washington accord on resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We announced last week an extra £5 million of assistance for the new Palestinian Administration, £3 million for immediate running cost needs and £2 million for bilateral technical assistance. Much of these funds will be for the Palestinian police force. All this is in addition to the £70 million we have already pledged in aid to the Palestinians over the next three years, through bilateral and multilateral channels.
Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the Ministers who have visited (a) Bahrain, (b) Egypt, (c) Iran, (d) Iraq, (e) Israel, (f) Jordan, (g) Kuwait, (h) Lebanon, (i) Oman, (j) Qatar, (k) Saudi Arabi, (l) Syria, (m) the United Arab Emirates and (n) the Yemen since 1979, together with the purpose of each visit ; and which Ministers they met.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : No central record is kept in the FCO of overseas travel by Ministers from other Government Departments.
Since June 1983 Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers have made the following visits to these countries :
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Information about visits prior to June 1983 and information about Ministers met during the the visits could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Country/Minister |Date |Purpose of visit
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bahrain
Mr. Luce |January 1985 |Bilateral
Mr. Renton |March 1986 |Bilateral
Mr. Mellor |February 1988 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |February 1989 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |March 1989 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1991 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |October 1991 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |May/June 1994 |Bilateral
Egypt
Mr. Luce |November 1983 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1984 |Bilateral
Mr. Luce |May 1985 |Bilateral
Mr. Renton |September 1986 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |November 1987 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |December 1988 |Bilateral
Mr. Patten |March 1989 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |November 1989 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |October 1990 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |February 1991 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |December 1991 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |May 1992 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |May 1993 |Bilateral
Baroness Chalker |November 1993 |Bilateral
Mr. Lennox-Boyd |May 1994 |Middle East Peace
| Treaty
Iran
Mrs. Chalker |April 1991 |Bilateral
Iraq
Mr. Luce |November 1984 |Bilateral
Mr. Mellor |February 1988 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |February 1989 |Bilateral
Israel
Mr. Luce |November 1983 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |October 1984 |Bilateral
Mr. Renton |December 1985 |Bilateral
Mr. Mellor |December 1987 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |February 1989 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |October 1990 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |May 1991 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |July 1993 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1994 |Bilateral
Jordan
Mr. Luce |November 1983 |Bilateral
Mr. Luce |March 1984 |Bilateral
Mr. Renton |September/ |Bilateral
| October 1986
Secretary of State |November 1987 |Bilateral
Mr. Mellor |February 1988 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |February 1989 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |May 1990 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |September 1990 |Bilateral
Mrs. Chalker |September 1990 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1991 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |March 1991 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |July 1993 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1994 |Bilateral
Kuwait
Mr. Luce |December 1983 |Bilateral
Mr. Luce |April 1985 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1986 |Bilateral
Mr. Mellor |December 1987 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1989 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |February 1989 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |February 1992 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |May 1992 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |May/June 1994 |Bilateral
Lebanon
Mr. Luce |September 1983 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |October 1984 |Bilateral
Mr. Renton |December 1985 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |June 1991 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1994 |Bilateral
Oman
Mr. Luce |December 1983 |Bilateral
Mr. Luce |January 1985 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1986 |Bilateral
Mr. Renton |February 1987 |Bilateral
Mr. Mellor |November 1987 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1989 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |December 1989 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |March 1990 |EC/GCC
Secretary of State |September 1990 |Bilateral
Qatar
Mr. Luce |April 1984 |Bilateral
Mr. Luce |April 1985 |Bilateral
Mr. Renton |March 1986 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |October 1988 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |March 1989 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1991 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |October 1991 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |May/June 1994 |Bilateral
Saudi Arabia
Secretary of State |January 1984 |Bilateral
Mr. Luce |March 1985 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1986 |Bilateral
Mr. Renton |February 1987 |Bilateral
Mr. Mellor |December 1987 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |October 1988 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1989 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |May/June 1990 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |September 1990 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |February 1991 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |February 1992 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |September 1993 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |May 1994 |EU/GCC Ministerial
Syria
Mr. Luce |December 1983 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1984 |Bilateral
Mr. Renton |December 1985 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |March 1991 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |June 1991 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |October 1993 |Bilateral
United Arab Emirates
Mr. Luce |December 1983 |Bilateral
Mr. Luce |March 1985 |Bilateral
Mr. Renton |March 1986 |Bilateral
Mr. Mellor |November 1987 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |October 1988 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1989 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |May 1989 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |September 1990 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1991 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |October 1991 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |December 1992 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |September 1993 |Bilateral
Yemen
Mr. Renton |February 1987 |Bilateral
Secretary of State |January 1989 |Bilateral
Mr. Waldegrave |December 1989 |Bilateral
Mr. Hogg |December 1992 |Bilateral
38. Mr. Janner : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the current progress in the middle east peace process.
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Mr. Douglas Hogg : I welcome Mr. Arafat's return to Gaza and Jericho which symbolises progress in the peace process. We will continue to provide assistance to his new administration. We welcome recent progress on the Jordanian track of the peace process and hope for progress on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks.
Unemployment
34. Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what measures to reduce unemployment were decided by the European Council at Corfu.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The European Council discussed the follow-up to the action plan to reduce unemployment which was agreed at Brussels. They endorsed the Commission's decision to set up a group of independent experts to examine the burden of Community and national legislation on business. They agreed a list of 11 priority trans-European network transport projects. They also received a report from the Bangemann group with recommendations for action to exploit opportunities in the field of information technology and agreed to follow up the issues raised in the report.
Germany
37. Mr. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he next plans to meet his German counterpart to discuss Anglo-German relations.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : When Dr. Kinkel and my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary meet regularly, as they do on both bilateral and multilateral occasions, they review our bilateral co-operation. I met my German counterpart for talks yesterday and my right hon. Friend will be meeting Dr. Kinkel at the special European Council on 15 July.
Sierra Leone
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress is being made in the trial of four British passport holders being tried for subversive activities in Sierra Leone.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : A magistrate has decided that there is a case to answer and the men are scheduled to appear before a jury in the High Court in September. They enjoy regular consular visits from the British high commission and are in good health.
Liberia
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports are sent to the European Union about the operation of the Economic Community of West African States monitoring group initiative in Liberia ; to what are the reports mainly directed ; and if they are publicly available.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : The United Nations Secretary-General's progress reports on the United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia, UNOMIL, include reference to the ECOWAS monitoring and observing group, ECOMOG, and provide comprehensive accounts of political, military and humanitarian developments. These reports are
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available to all member states, including the European Union and are also available publicly in London from the United Nations information centre. A copy of the fifth progress report has been placed in both Libraries of the House.Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if proposals exist for a European Union mission in Liberia.
Nigeria
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Nigerian Government about its failure to obey a Federal High Court order to produce Chief Abiola in court on 30 June.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : Chief Abiola was finally arraigned in court in Abuja on 6 July. Together with our EU partners, we have made clear to the Nigerian Government the importance we attach to the rule of law, and respect for human rights. Putting Chief Abiola on trial cannot resolve Nigeria's political problems.
Data Protection
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 16 June, Official Report, column 640, whether he will describe, in each case, the specific inconsistency which obliged the United Kingdom Government to enter a derogation from the first sentence of paragraph 2.4, the second sentence of paragraph 3.1, and from the whole of paragraph 3.3 of Council of Europe recommendation R(85)20 ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The reservation on the first sentence of paragraph 2.4 was made because the Government did not believe that individual notification of data subjects at the time of collection should always be required.
The reservation on the second sentence of paragraph 3.1 was made because United Kingdom law does not require an individual's consent to be obtained before data about him are disclosed.
The reservation on paragraph 3.3 was made because in the Government's view it is impracticable for controllers of marketing files to know to whom their lists have been provided by the original recipients of the lists.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 16 June, Official Report, column 640, whether he will in each case describe the specific inconsistency which obliged the United Kingdom Government to enter a derogation from principles 6.2 and 6.3 paragraph 2 of Council of Europe recommendation R(91)10 ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The reservations on principle 6.2 and principle 6.3, paragraph 2, were made because these provisions go beyond what is required by United Kingdom data protection legislation.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 16
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June, Official Report, column 640, whether he will in each case describe the specific inconsistency which obliged the United Kingdom Government to enter a derogation from principles 2.2 and 2.4 of Council of Europe recommendation R(87)15 ; and whether he will make a statement.Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The reservation on principle 2.2 was made because in the Government's view it would be undesirable to provide the information in question in some circumstances.
The reservation on principle 2.4 was made because in the Government's view this principle could seriously inhibit the police in preventing and detecting crime.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 16 June, Official Report, column 640, whether he will, in each case describe the specific inconsistency which obliged the United Kingdom Government to enter a derogation from the second sub-paragraph of 1.2, the second sentence of paragraph 3.3, and from paragraph 5 of Council of Europe recommendation R(86)1 ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The reservation on the second sub-paragraph of paragraph 1.2 was made to ensure that the recommendation did not apply to occupational pensions schemes in the United Kingdom. The reservation on the second sentence of paragraph 3.3 was made because United Kingdom law does not require consent before personal data may be obtained from third parties.
The reservation on paragraph 5 was made because the United Kingdom does not have legislation governing the use of the national insurance number.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 16 June, Official Report, column 640, whether he will describe the specific inconsistency which obliged the United Kingdom Government to enter a derogation from extending the Council of Europe recommendation R(83)10 to manually processed data ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The reservation was made because United Kingdom data protection law does not apply to manually processed data.
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer of 16 June, Official Report, column 640, whether he will in each case describe the specific inconsistency which obliged the United Kingdom Government to enter a derogation from paragraphs 3.3, 3.4, 5.1c, and 7.1 of Council of Europe recommendations R(90)19 ; and whether he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The reservations on paragraphs 3.3 and 5.1.c were made because these paragraphs depend upon the individual's consent which is not required under United Kingdom law.
The reservation of paragraph 3.4 was made because in the Government's view the paragraph is unnecessarily restrictive on businesses which use non-cash means of payment.
The reservation on paragraph 7.1 was made because the paragraph could require the data subject to be given access to security information.
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Hong Kong
33. Mr. Turner : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the progress of recent discussions on the future of Hong Kong.
Mr. Faulds : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the proegress of recent discussions on the future of Hong Kong.
Mr. Goodlad : The 29th plenary session of the Sino-British joint liaison group was held in Hong Kong in June. Full agreement was reached, after seven years of negotiations, on the future of the military estate in Hong Kong. Agreement was also reached, among other things, on the continued application to Hong Kong of nine multilateral treaties on merchant shipping, the text of two new bilateral treaties on extradition and investment and the localisation of three more items of United Kingdom legislation.
Poland
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his policy in respect of Poland's borders.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : We fully respect Poland's sovereignty, territorial integrity and the involability of her borders, in accordance with United Nations and Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe principles.
GATT Headquarters
Sir John Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will support the retention of the headquarters of GATT, now to become the World Trade Organisation, at Geneva ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The Swiss and German Governments have put forward generous and attractive offers of sites for the headquarters of the World Trade Organisation in Geneva and Bonn respectively. The British Government could support a consensus in favour of either place ; but we see some advantage in the WTO remaining in Geneva to avoid the disruption of a move.
Gas-related Deaths (Spain)
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make joint representations with the Irish Foreign Secretary to the Spanish authorities about further gas-related deaths of British and Irish citizens in Spain.
Mr. Lennox-Boyd : No. There is no evidence that the recent deaths in the Canary Islands from carbon monoxide poisoning were connected. Nor is there any evidence that a criminal offence was committed in connection with the death of the British national. If they wish the family can make a claim for compensation through the civil courts.
Macedonia
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the EC's policy on trade with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
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Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : Trade is a key way of promoting prosperity and stability. We hope to see the early lifting of Greek trade restrictions with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the resolution of their bilateral dispute.
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