TNAG-2710-FCO40-3916-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-and-Par-1993 — Page 159

current President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: he told me of the plans for his visit to the United Kingdom as an official guest of the FCO. asked me whether I would approach you on the suggestion of a meeting which he might have with you. He added that, while he appreciated the offers to meet Foreign Office Ministers, he had already had many opportunities to do so through the Council of Europe. I can well understand the thinking

behind the present draft programme but the situation as I understand it today, is that his visit has been postponed both because he is involved in the run-up to the Spanish election and, as he said, because he would prefer to make a visit at a later date when it might be convenient to call on you.

May I say that I would fully support anything which you can do to agree to this request. Mr Martinez is a Socialist who suffered imprisonment and torture under the Franco regime. He has since moved substantially to the right and there is little doubt that he is the most outstanding European parliamentarian who is active in the Inter-Parliamentary Union. His standing is reflected in his current Presidency of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and I believe there is every likelihood he will achieve his ambition to follow me as President of the IPU. For all these reasons, I would be most grateful if you could give serious consideration to the possibility of meeting him when his programme is re-arranged.

Finally, by way of advance notice, I hope to involve Mr Martinez together with the Presidents and General Secretaries of up to 20 international parliamentary organisations linked to the IPU (including in addition to the Council of Europe, the CSCE, the European Parliament, and the Nordic Council) in a meeting in London which we are currently planning for December 1993. I have already obtained support, in principle, from the Foreign Secretary for FCO involvement in this particular form of summitry. do hope that when we can finalise dates, you may be willing to consider receiving some if not all members of this delegation.

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I am sending copies of this letter to the Foreign Secretary and to the Chief Whip whose help at a difficult time made my meeting with the Indian Prime Minister possible.

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