Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: We meet our European partners regularly to discuss the strengthening of intergovernmental co-operation on foreign policy.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. European political co-operation and the single market were two of the great achievements of the Single European Act. The Government have played and will continue to play a forward role in European political co-operation and in the common foreign and security policy when it is set up after ratification of the Maastricht treaty.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: I agree with the hon. Gentleman to the extent that he hopes for a peaceful settlement in Yugoslavia. That rests on the Vance-Owen initiative, which has been strongly supported by the European Community and this Administration.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: I shall be travelling to Paris on Friday to meet my new opposite number. I will not hesitate to pay tribute to the courage and dedication of General Morillon.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: I certainly join the right hon. Gentleman in applauding the approach that Mr. Mandela has taken. I think that Mr. Mandela and this Government are right to believe that the best tribute to the man who has been assassinated is to continue to pursue the peace process. Certainly the European Community, through the election monitors it has sent and the police training it has offered, is supporting...
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: I certainly agree with my hon. Friend. Like me, he will not be surprised that many Members and also people outside the House feel very strongly about what is going on in the former Yugoslavia, given the horrific nature of the events taking place there. Nevertheless, the course that the Government and the European Community have pursued—that of support for the Owen-Vance initiative,...
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary discussed this and other issues with the Danish Foreign Minister, Mr. Helveg Petersen, in London on 22 March.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: No, there is no such prospect: the Government, like previous British Governments, will depend on the will of the House.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: Yes, that remains the position.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: I recall that answer, but the question put to the Danish people and the answer that they give are matters for the Danish Government and the Danish people and not for me.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: EC-US relations are close, crucially important and wide ranging, including especially trade relations and political dialogue. We are committed to maintaining and developing this relationship on the basis of the November 1990 EC-US declaration which sets out shared aims and principles. The next EC-US summit will take place in Washington on 7 May.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: I certainly agree with my hon. Friend about the importance of a successful conclusion to the GATT Uruguay round. I assure him that the Government will continue to give the highest priority to that. The initial signals coming from the new United States Administration are encouraging. The trade representative, Mr. Kantor, recently confirmed President Clinton's commitment to a more open trading...
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary last discussed Peru with the Peruvian ambassador on 18 November 1992. I visited Lima from 7 to 9 January and was able to assess the progress that Peru has made in restoring democratic government.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his perfectly correct remarks about Sendero Luminoso which is probably the most horrific terrorist organisation operating anywhere on the globe today. We must recognise that since the autumn coup—as I believe it is called—President Fujimori has made progress in the restoration of democracy and the new constitutional assembly holds out considerable...
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: rose—
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: Perhaps my hon. Friend will do the Committee a favour. No doubt he can answer my question: it has been referred to by our hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Mr. Budgen), whose quotation is bound to be accurate. At what point did my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary use the phrase "the elaborate language of degenerate nation states"?
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: I assume that my hon. Friend is confirming that our hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, South-West quoted our right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary inaccurately.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: Sometimes there is confusion in the minds of hon. Gentlemen as to the difference between a security policy and a defence policy. According to the union treaty, the union does not have a defence policy; it has a security policy and therefore there is no incompatibility with a neutral country assuming the full Maastricht acquis, while remaining neutral. That is perfectly clear.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: It will not surprise the hon. Gentleman, who is knowledgeable about these matters, that those words were carefully chosen, and the Government were party to including them in the treaty. If the hon. Gentleman reads them with great care, as I am sure he has, he will see that I am correct in saying that there is no defence component to the union treaty.
Mr Tristan Garel-Jones: In seeking to be helpful to the Commmittee, the hon. Gentleman read out the word "requests," which was also a very carefully chosen word. It does not say "instructs"; it says "requests". The Western European Union is free standing from the union.