asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he agrees with Commission President Delors that it may not be over-optimistic to announce a decision to eliminate all frontiers to the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital within Europe by 1992; and the action the Government plans to take in the Council to achieve this desirable goal.
Written Answers. - European Community.
556.
In support of the objective outlined by President Delors in his statement to the European Parliament in January, the European Council on 29 and 30 March laid particular emphasis on action to achieve a single large market by 1992, thereby creating a more favourable environment for stimulating enterprise, competition and trade. It called upon the Commission to draw up a detailed programme with a specific timetable before the European Council's next meeting. The Government strongly supports priority action in this area and will continue to work actively within the Council of Ministers for the final achievement of a full internal market by 1992.
As regards the free movement of persons, this is one of the issues to which the Ad Hoc Committee on a People's Europe has been addressing itself. The recommendations of the committee in this regard will be before the European Council in June and the Government will examine these in a most positive spirit.
557.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the light of Jean Monnet's comment on the beginnings of the Community, which Commission President Delors regards as remarkably apt today, that the beginning of Europe was a political conception, but, even more, it was a moral idea that Europeans had gradually lost the ability to live together and combine their creative strength and that there seemed to be a decline in their contribution to progress and to the civilisation which they themselves had created, if he considers that a renewed reinvigorated Community must reinforce its efforts to promote peace; and if he considers that the Community has a unique role to play in this area.
Certainly, a renewed and reinvigorated European Community, as envisaged by President Delors in his address to the European Parliament on 14 January, and to which there is now within the Community a discernibly greater awareness and commitment, will be much better placed to assume a role in world affairs, and not least in the promotion of peace, commensurate with its enhanced international authority and standing.
558.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he considers that the Community acting in concert might persuade the US and Japan to act together to remedy the glaring ills of the world economy, such as monetary instability, prohibitive interest rates, hidden protectionism and the reduction in aid of all kinds to the poorest countries; if he agrees that it is vital that Europeans overcome their differences and work out a set of proposals to tackle the problems of the world economy; and the action the Government plans to take to stimulate the necessary discussion and agreement among our EC partners, to enable us to co-operate in the world economic order.
The Community's Annual Economic Report 1984-85 adopted by the Council of Ministers last December recommended that "Europe and Japan should seek to assure that their own economic recoveries prove self-sustainable as and when the United States moves, presumably in 1985, to reduce its balance of payments and budget deficits, possibly with a co-operative set of policy adjustments on all sides and a more positive management of exchange rate relations between the three parties."
The Government fully subscribes to this need for a co-operative approach to promote better international economic balance. Accordingly at Community, OECD and GATT Council meetings and other international fora the Government have consistently argued that co-ordinated action by EC member states, including exploiting the potentialities of the Community acting as a single economic unit, could permit the Community to have a greater role than heretofore in world economic recovery. In this respect, the conclusions of the European Council on 29-30 March last stressed the importance of completing the implementation of the economic strategy set out in the Community's Annual Economic Report and the determination of all the member Governments of the Community to pursue in a concerted manner all the measures and policies which go to make up that strategy. The Community is taking an active part in the present international discussions on how the international monetary system might be improved. The Irish Government's representatives, at ministerial and official levels, will continue to play a forward and constructive role in these discussions.
559.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he considers that increased industrial co-operation and the strengthening of the European Monetary System are essential prerequisites if the European Community is to achieve higher growth and more jobs; and if he agrees it is vital that the member states of the Community intensify their efforts to achieve this goal by the creation of a suitable framework at Community level and if he will make a statement on the matter.
At the European Council in Brussels on 29 and 30 March, the Heads of State and Government examined measures to strengthen the technological base of the Community and means of restoring competitiveness. The European Council singled out four fields of action:
(a) achievement of a single Community market by 1992;
(b) encouragement of the creation and development of small and medium-sized enterprises;
(c) adaptation of working conditions to new social, economic and technological circumstances;
(d) specific action to expand employment.
The Government endorse the priorities identified in these fields and intend to press within the Community for their achievement.
The European Council of last month also expressed its concern at the current international monetary instability which threatens to endanger the Community's economic recovery. By contrast, the European Monetary System has played a major role in the achievement of monetary stability in Europe. The Government will continue to support the maintenance and consolidation of the role of the EMS.
560.
asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he agrees with Commission President Delors that the present emphasis on institutional issues within the Community could lead to the adoption of diametrically opposed positions which each side could invoke as a pretext for doing nothing; if he agrees that the adoption of a two-pronged approach along the lines suggested by Mr. Delors in involving firstly identification of the improvements which can be made within the framework of existing rules, and secondly examining what can be done beyond the Treaty of Rome, would avoid the pitfalls of limited pragmatism and precipitate action; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I have noted President Delors' remarks on Community institutional matters in his statement to the European Parliament on 14 January. As the Deputy will be aware, the ad hoc committee on institutional affairs (the Dooge Committee) has addressed itself substantively to this matter in its final report presented to the European Council on 28-29 March. The report also envisages further action both in implementation of the existing treaties and also in areas outside the present treaty competences. These matters are presently under consideration by the Government in their overall examination of the Dooge Committee Report which the Government hopes will be the subject of a full debate in this House in the coming weeks.