QUESTION:
WELL, LIKE WHAT?
MR HOWELL:
WELL, LIKE THAT IF THE PATTEN PROPOSALS FOR TUNCTIONAL COMMITTEES WERE TO PROCEED WITH ALL EMPLOYEES IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY VOTING THIS MAN UP, IT MIGHT END UP WITH THE CLEANER OR THE DOORMAN OR CHAUFFEUR BEING ELECTED, YOU HAVE HEARD THAT ONE BEFORE. LIKE THE FACT THAT THIS IS REALLY ALL A SORT OF BLIND-SIDE DEVICE FOR ACCELERATING THE WHOLE PATTERN OF DIRECT ELECTIONS TO LEGCO PROPER WHEN THERE ARE FIGURES LAID DOWN IN THE BASIC LAW AND THE JOINT DECLARATION FOR THE PACE AT WHICH THAT SHOULD HAPPEN AND THAT THE PATTEN PROPOSALS ARE SOMEHOW TRYING TO CIRCUMVENT THAT IN A COVERT WAY. THESE SORT OF THINGS. AND I DON'T THINK THEY ARE ANYTHING VERY NEW OR VERY DRAMATIC BUT THEY DO, FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE TRYING TO ANALYZE THESE THINGS FROM WESTMINSTER, HELP US TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE MINDS AND THE PERSPECTIVE AND THE VIEWPOINT OF THE POLICY MAKERS IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC, AND THAT IS VALUABLE TO US. IT MAY NOT BE NEW TO YOU BUT IT IS VALUABLE TO US.
QUESTION:
AND THE COMMON GROUND BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES, IF ANY?
MR HOWELL:
WELL, I DON'T KNOW. YOU HEARD MR SUMBERG EARLIER. I THINK, LET US PUT IT LIKE THIS, THAT THERE IS A WISH AND THERE WOULD BE A LIKING TO OVERCOME THE DISAGREEMENT AND THE WHOLE MATTER WAS PUT TO US MORE IN SORROW THAN IN ANGER. BUT OF COURSE, AS IS OFTEN THE WAY, GIVEN THAT WE ARE NOT THE NEGOTIATORS BUT MERELY, AS IT WERE, VISITORS VISITING THE DIFFERENT SIDES WHO ARE THE NEGOTIATORS, THE OBVIOUS VIEW 1S PUT, WHICH IS: WILL YOU KINDLY GO AWAY TO THE OTHER SIDE AND TELL THEM IF THEY MIRACULOUSLY MOVE ALL THE WAY TO OUR POSITION WE WILL THEN HAVE COMMON GROUND. AND THAT IS THE GAME · NOT ANYTHING VERY NEW, BUT THAT THERE WAS A DESIRE TO SEE AN AGREEMENT CANNOT BE, I DON'T THINK, CANNOT BE CHALLENGED AND I FELT THAT THE MATTER WAS PUT IN THOSE SORT OF TERMS MORE IN SORROW THAN IN ANGER.
AND NOW IF ANY OF MY COLLEAGUES DISAGREE WITH THAT AND FEEL THAT IT WAS TOTALLY BLANK MR JOPLING WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK.
MR JOPLING:
THE
WELL, I JUST WANT TO MAKE A SIMILAR ANSWER TO THE ONE I GAVE A FEW MINUTES AGO, THAT THESE ARE CONFIDENTIAL NEGOTIATIONS AND WHENEVER YOU HAVE TO CONDUCT CONFIDENTIAL INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS OF THIS SORT - AND YEARS AGO 1 HAD TO DO THIS IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AS PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF AGRICULTURE MINISTERS AND PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF FISHERY MINISTERS LAST THING YOU MUST DO IS EXPOSE IT ALL TO THE WORLD'S MEDIA AND BACKBENCH MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT. NOW, THESE NEGOTIATIONS THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT ARE OF THAT NATURE, AND THAT IS, IN MY VIEW, WITHOUT QUESTION THE BEST WAY TO CONDUCT THEM. NOW, BOTH SIDES, I BELIEVE, DID HONOUR THE UNDERSTANDING THEY HAVE BETWEEN THEMSELVES THAT THESE ARE CONFIDENTIAL NEGOTIATIONS AND THEY DID NOT SHARE WITH US THE DETAILS OF WHERE THEY HAVE GOT TO, AND
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