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Intergovernmental Conference
2. Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what responses he has received to the proposals contained in the Government's White Paper on the intergovernmental conference. [35162]
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Malcolm Rifkind): The way in which the British case has been put in the White Paper has been welcomed by many in this House and more widely. The member states, of course, hold a variety of views on the proposals.
Mr. Home Robertson: As a citizen of a country that has fairly successfully shared a common currency and, indeed, a common supreme court with its neighbours for 289 years without losing the identity of either Scots law, as the Secretary of State should know, or the pound Scots, may I urge the Secretary of State to be less timorous about the concept of a single European currency and a European social charter? For a start, why does he not face up to the nationalist backwoodsmen behind him, who want to challenge the authority of the European Court of Justice?
Mr. Rifkind: I am rather puzzled by the comparison that the hon. Gentleman has just drawn. The success of the union of these islands has been because we have created a single state. I did not appreciate that the hon. Gentleman was in favour of a united states of Europe.
Mr. Budgen: Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that one of the first requirements of the IGC's success is that the Commission and the nation states
honour the opt-outs that were obtained at Maastricht? In view of the disgraceful way in which the Commission and other nation states have acted in complete breach of trust by bringing forward the working time directive, will he ensure that the Government say that, until we get an undertaking that the treaty will be amended, we shall, as soon as we hear of the judgment, bring in a policy of general non-co-operation in Europe?
Mr. Rifkind: Were those circumstances to arise, the proper course of action would be to do what we would do if our courts ruled that an Act of Parliament should be interpreted differently from how Parliament originally intended. In those circumstances, one observes the law but uses one's energies to change it back to what it was always intended to be.
Mr. Robin Cook: How can the Government claim that excessive working hours have nothing to do with health and safety when all the evidence confirms that accidents rise sharply with longer hours? The Foreign Secretary will be aware that the Government are currently challenging the beef ban before the European Court of Justice. Would not this be an odd time to undermine the authority of the court by rejecting its ruling on the 48-hour working week? Will he therefore assure us that the Government will accept the court's ruling on the working time directive, and will he spare Britain the humiliation of being the only country with a Government prepared to allow employees to be forced to work longer hours against their will?
Mr. Rifkind: The right hon. Gentleman should reflect on the fact that Britain is the only major country of the European Union where unemployment has been falling consistently in the past two years. That is because we have resisted imposing foolish burdens on industry, which may look good on paper but which result in people who would otherwise be employed being jobless. The House will note that the Labour party is more concerned with imposing burdens on industry than helping the cause of greater employment.
Mr. Garnier: Has my right hon. and learned Friend received any responses to the White Paper along the lines that there should be further qualified majority voting in subjects not currently covered by it? Will he direct all his energies at the IGC to ensuring that QMV is not extended, and reject any suggestion that, unless QMV is extended, the European Community will grind to a halt?
Mr. Rifkind: Qualified majority voting already applies to wide areas of European Union activity, and I agree that there are no grounds for extending it. The argument often used by Labour Front Benchers, that enlargement of the European Union makes more qualified majority voting essential, is bogus. It has been produced by a total absence of analysis by those who advocate it.
Burundi
3. Mr. Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his EU partners about the situation in Burundi. [35163]
Mr. Rifkind: We and our European partners are deeply concerned about the situation in Burundi and support the efforts of ex-President Nyerere to negotiate an agreement between the parties.
Mr. Turner: I thank the Secretary of State for that answer. He will be aware of the atrocities and genocide taking place in Burundi. Some 100 people a day are losing their lives and 150,000 people have died in the past three years. Will the Secretary of State assure the House that the British Government will take firm action in support, and with the support, of the international community? Will he guarantee that they will not allow Burundi to suffer the same fate as Rwanda suffered and that we shall have international action now?
Mr. Rifkind: No one could be indifferent to the hundreds of thousands of people massacred in Rwanda. We are all conscious that comparable risks exist today in Burundi. That calls for effective preventive diplomacy to try to anticipate those concerns. At this stage, we must take action by both diplomatic and other means to ensure that such ghastly atrocities are not repeated. Much good work is being done, and the United Kingdom will certainly play its part in the diplomatic and other efforts currently being made.
Mr. Wilkinson: Is it not a sad fact that Burundi cannot look to the EU for effective succour? Is not the EU's projected draft budget for humanitarian and food aid set to drop by 1 per cent. this year, whereas the projected budget for Commission administration will rise by 5 per cent., the Mediterranean countries' budget will rise by no less than 48 per cent., and the common agricultural policy, which keeps out the food of primary producing countries, is set to rise by 2.48 per cent.? Those are hardly the priorities that will help Burundi.
Mr. Rifkind: I agree with the general thrust of my hon. Friend's point. Burundi's main requirement at the moment, however, is not economic help but help of another kind. I endorse the view that the European Union must readjust its priorities to the real needs of those it tries to help.
Mr. Tony Lloyd: The Foreign Secretary is right when he says that Burundi's needs at the moment are not economic, but may I remind him that, when Rwanda drifted into genocide, the world stood back and let it happen? Words are not enough in this case. The Foreign Secretary has already given some credit to the efforts of former President Nyerere. Do the British Government actively support the peace initiative of the Organisation of African Unity and the possibility of a military force entering Burundi? What practical steps are Her Majesty's Government taking to ensure that, at United Nations level, practical action is taken that will make a real difference on the ground? In Rwanda, such action was lacking.
Mr. Rifkind: We welcome the action of any responsible persons or organisations that might help in this process. We believe that any major international initiative should be under the authority of the United Nations, but there are various ways in which that authority could be provided.
Kashmir
4. Mr. Heppell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the recent elections in Kashmir; and if he will make a statement. [35164]
Mr. Rifkind: The complex conditions in the Kashmir valley make it impossible to give a clear-cut view.
Mr. Heppell: As the Minister has learnt from a report by a British official at the Delhi high commission of the intimidation and coercion that is taking place in Kashmir, does he think that we should send a clear message to the Indian Government that we will not accept as free and fair an election that is conducted at the point of a gun?
Mr. Rifkind: We believe that, in Kashmir, proper free and fair elections can play a part in leading the way from violence toward dialogue and a political settlement of these difficult problems. Elections must be free and fair if they are to carry the authority that we should all like.
Mr. Waller: In view of the many well-documented allegations that have thrown doubt on the outcome of the elections recently held in Jammu and Kashmir, will my right hon. and learned Friend urge the Government of India to admit international observers to the territory for the forthcoming elections that they plan to hold for an assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, so that an impartial assessment can be made then as to whether they are free and fair?
Mr. Rifkind: Permitting observers from other countries to attend is always a valuable way of satisfying the international community of the freedom and fairness of elections. That will be a matter for the Indian Government to decide, but of course it would make an important and significant contribution to the credibility of any electoral process in such a sensitive area.
Mr. Madden: Why is the Foreign Secretary taking this view of the recent elections? It flies in the face of numerous reports by the international media, including The Guardian and The Independent, which reported enormous intimidation and coercion by the 700,000-strong Indian forces in Kashmir of the people of Kashmir. Why on earth is he refusing to publish the report of the British official at the Delhi high commission, who is paid by British taxpayers? British taxpayers are entitled to know whether, in the view of that official, the recent elections were free and fair.
Mr. Rifkind: We are well aware of the reports of undue pressure in the elections, and we are certainly not in a position to dismiss them as unfounded. This is a complex and difficult issue, but I freely agree with the hon. Gentleman and others who have expressed concern about whether the elections can be seen as acceptable by the normal standards that would be applied in such circumstances.
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