Frank Crowley
Question:17 Mr. Crowley asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason the secretariat assisting the presidency of the EC Community in preparing and implementing political co-operation remains separate from the European Commission.
Written Answers. - EC Political Co-operation.
Michael Creed
Question:19 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason the secretariat assisting the presidency of the EC Community in preparing and implementing political co-operation remains separate from the European Commission.
Monica Barnes
Question:20 Mrs. Barnes asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason the secretariat assisting the presidency of the EC Community in preparing and implementing political co-operation remains separate from the European Commission.
Michael D'Arcy
Question:60 Mr. D'Arcy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason the secretariat assisting the presidency of the EC Community in preparing and implementing political co-operation remains separate from the European Commission.
Austin Deasy
Question:69 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason the secretariat assisting the presidency of the EC Community in preparing and implementing political co-operation remains separate from the European Commission.
I intend to take Questions Nos. 17, 19, 20, 60 and 69 together.
Under the Single European Act, the role of the Secretariat in European Political Co-operation is to assist the member state holding the Presidency in preparing and implementing EPC activities. The secretariat is not an independent body but carries out its duties under the authority of the Presidency. Although the Commission is fully associated with the work of EPC it does not have in EPC the same functions it has under the EC Treaty, for example the sole right to make proposals, an independent power of decision, the duty of implementation.
These arrangements reflect the different natures of the European Community and EPC. The European Community is a supranational body whose primary objective is economic integration achieved through the actions, including legislative acts, of its institutions. EPC is a less developed arrangement. It falls outside the framework of the European Community as such and is governed by a separate Treaty contained in Title III of the Single European Act. It is an intergovernmental arrangement for consultation and co-ordination on foreign policy questions. It does not have independent institutions like the Community's and acts primarily through the member states. The Maastricht Treaty will strengthen the role of the Commission in the formulation and conduct of the common foreign and security policy of the new European Union. In particular, the Commission will be given the same right to make proposals as the member states.