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IGC

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on proposals by the French Presidency at the IGC on Institutional Reform relating to self-employed people. [138728]

Mr. Vaz: The Government have made it quite clear that it will insist on retaining unanimity for Social Security, including for the categories of people covered by the Social Security provisions.

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on proposals from the French Presidency at the IGC on Institutional Reform to extend the coordination of national tax systems. [138730]

Mr. Vaz: The Government have made it quite clear that it will insist on retaining unanimity for decisions on taxation.

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the proposals in the progress report on the IGC relating to the WTO and the conclusion of international trade agreements. [138726]

Mr. Vaz: The Presidency's proposals relate principally to the extension of the Common Commercial Policy to include services and intellectual property. This could bring benefits to British industry by improving access to overseas markets, and the Government is therefore looking carefully at the options for change.

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the proposals for the co-ordination of social security systems contained in the progress report on the IGC on Institutional Reform. [138727]

Mr. Vaz: The Government have made quite clear that they will insist on retaining unanimity for social security.

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Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on proposals in the Progress report on the IGC on Institutional Reform relating to (a) political parties at the European Union level, (b) the European Court of Justice, (c) the Court of Auditors, (d) the co-operation procedure and (e) the Committee of the Regions. [138722]

Mr. Vaz: On the first point, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Mr. Spring) on 13 November 2000, Official Report, column 513W.

The Government have made clear its position on IGC issues in its White Paper, and most recently in the Government's response to the Foreign Affairs Committee report on the intergovernmental Conference (published as a Command Paper on Friday 27 October). I refer the hon. Member to these.

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the proposals concerning enhanced cooperation in the Progress Report on the IGC on Institutional Reform, with particular reference to the impact on member states not taking part in enhanced cooperation. [138676]

Mr. Vaz: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 2 November 2000, Official Report, column 557W.

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) what his policy is on the number of votes to be required for a blocking minority under QMV at the proposed IGC on Institutional Reform; [138677]

(2) if he will make a statement on proposals for a double simple majority voting rule to be discussed at the IGC on Institutional Reform. [138678]

Mr. Vaz: The Government set out their position on vote reweighting in the IGC White Paper that they published in February.

I refer the hon. Member to this.

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on proposals in the Progress report on the IGC on Institutional Reform relating to (a) transport issues and (b) economic and financial cooperation with non-EU countries. [138735]

Mr. Vaz: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) on 30 October 2000, Official Report, column 238W.

European Court of Justice

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representation he has made to the Advocate-General of the European Court of Justice's recent legal opinion concerning criticism of the EU. [138684]

Mr. Vaz: In his Opinion in a case brought by Bernard Connelly against the European Commission, the Advocate-General, Ruiz-Javabo Colomer, concluded that the European Court of Justice should dismiss Mr. Connelly's appeal against the decision of the Court of First Instance. The Court of First Instance had found

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previously that Mr. Connelly was in breach of his obligations as a Commission official, according to his terms of employment, and that his dismissal was therefore justified. Neither the Court of First Instance nor the Advocate-General found that it was illegal to criticise the EU, as it has been claimed in some sections of the press.

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his policy towards (a) the number of British commissioners, (b) the number of votes allocated to Britain and (c) the number of British judges on the European Court of Justice. [138675]

Mr. Vaz: The Government set out their position on Commission size and vote reweighting in the IGC White Paper that they published in February. I refer the hon. Member to this.

Currently each member state nominates a judge for the ECJ. There are no plans to change this.

Acquis Communautaire

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the volume of acquis communautaire applicant states need to adopt before they can join the EU. [138723]

Mr. Vaz: As in all previous enlargements, new members of the EU must be able to implement the acquis communautaire in full on accession. The candidate country's acceptance of the acquis may give rise to technical adjustments, and exceptionally to non-permanent transitional measures. These adjustments and transitional measures are the subject of the accession negotiations currently under way with 12 countries (Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia).

Ballistic Missile Defence Shield

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on American plans for a ballistic missile defence shield designed to protect Western Europe. [138683]

Mr. Vaz: President Clinton announced on 1 September that any decision on the possible deployment of a National Missile Defence system would be deferred to the next US Administration.

The system the current Administration envisage would protect all of the US, but not Western Europe.

French Presidency Proposals

Mr. Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the French Presidency's proposals for (a) a European food safety authority and (b) the harmonisation of working hours in the transport industry. [138680]

Mr. Vaz: (a) A proposal for a European Food Authority forms one part of the European Commission's proposed Regulation on general food law adopted on 8 November. The UK supports the establishment of such an Authority and will be considering this proposal carefully with wide public consultation. The French

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Presidency will be seeking preliminary views on the European Food Authority proposal in an orientation debate at the Internal Market Council on 30 November.

(b) Proposals concerning the organisation of working time for mobile workers in the road transport sector were first published by the Commission in November 1998. Since then, negotiations in the Council have been slow and difficult and several issues have still to be resolved. The French Presidency hope to reach a Common Position at the Transport Council on 20-21 December.

Diego Garcia

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action his Department is taking to assist former inhabitants of Diego Garcia to return to all parts of the islands. [138489]

Mr. Battle: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Blaenau Gwent (Mr. Smith) on 13 November 2000, Official Report, column 511W.

HIV/AIDS

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he plans to respond to the request from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for a report on the UK Government's activities concerning HIV/AIDS and human rights. [138561]

Mr. Hain: The HIV/AIDS pandemic is one of the most serious threats to health in modern times. Globally, nearly 34 million people live with HIV/AIDS. And, for many, it is not just their health that suffers but also their economic and social rights.

That is why we see HIV/AIDS as an absolute priority. We are intensifying our support for more effective national and regional action to tackle HIV/AIDS; increasing support for vaccine development and microbicides to prevent infection; and collaborating with national governments, the private sector, civil society, researchers, UNAIDS, UNICEF and WHO in ensuring the most effective global response to the pandemic.

In responding to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights we shall of course highlight these and our other efforts. I expect to issue this response in the near future, once we, in conjunction with DFID, have compiled the necessary information.

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