Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 13 Mar 1990

Vol. 396 No. 9

Written Answers. - EC Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

Michael Ferris

Ceist:

23 Mr. Ferris asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement regarding the meeting of EC Foreign Ministers on 5 February 1990; if he will outline the items discussed; if he will set out Ireland's position in relation to each item; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Collins)

The Foreign Ministers of the Community member states met in the General Affairs Council on 5 February last—the first meeting of the General Affairs Council under the current Irish Presidency. For a full list of the items discussed and an account of the outcome, I would refer the Deputy to the press release containing the conclusions of the Council which was issued by the Council Secretariat and which has been deposited in the Oireachtas Library.

The principal items considered were as follows: We had an exchange of views on the preparation of the Bonn Economic Conference which commences on 19 March. Our officials were instructed to prepare guidelines for Community action at the conference. Ireland regards the meeting, which is part of the CSCE process, as particularly important for the development of economic links with Eastern Europe.

The European Vocational Training Foundation and the Tempus Scheme involve the development of training and student exchanges with Eastern Europe and at Council we gave guidelines for further work on the basic decisions establishing the schemes concerned. Ireland supports these proposals which will play a significant role in assisting the East European countries in coping with the economic changes which have taken place in the last year.

We had a detailed review of negotiations on trade and co-operation agreements with Eastern European countries, on aid to these countries and on how their future relationship with the Community might best be managed. The Commission will bring forward proposals on the latter point. The Irish position on relations with Eastern European countries has been to support Community action which helps the countries concerned to develop their economic capacity and which supports the movement towards democracy.

We discussed economic and monetary union and it was agreed that the Irish Government would rapidly table a formal proposal for the revision of the Treaty which will enable the intergovernmental conference to take place in line with the decisions of the Strasbourg European Council. In compliance with this decision, the proposal was tabled on 21 February.

We examined the Commission's report on the Turkish application for accession to the Community and noted that the Commission will submit concrete proposals for strengthening co-operation with Turkey. Ireland agrees that it is important that these proposals be processed quickly.

The Council considered the state of relations with the US which, as you know, is of major interest to the Community at present and to Ireland also.

We had a first debate on the difficult subject of the future of car imports after the completion of the internal market in 1992. Ireland would like to see a solution which takes account of the need to maintain free trade while enabling the European auto industry to continue to develop.

We reviewed the position as regards progress in the Community's relations with the Mediterranean countries and the Council committed itself to examine as a priority proposals which the Commission will make for a special programme of co-operation with Colombia in the context of the fight against drugs.