(Reports of the plenary session of June 1991 in Strasbourg)

Thursday, 13 June - Concerned about the recurring use of Soviet military intimidation in the Baltic states and the continued failure of the Soviet government to enter into serious negotiations with the Baltic governments, Parliamentapproved a resolution which calls on the member states to make clear that acontinuation of this state of affairs could affect EC/Soviet relations.

T J Maher (Munster, LDR) and Anne McIntosh (Essex North West, ED) feltthat aid to the USSR should be conditional on respect for the right of theBaltic countries to decide their own destinies, while Christopher Beazley(Cornwall and Plymouth, ED), along with Miss McIntosh, urged the Commission tomake a specific amount of financial aid available direct to the Baltic states. Frans Andriessen said that it was the Commission's intention that EC aid wasfor the whole of the USSR, but if the Baltic states could justify additionalhelp then the Commission would respond, although no funds were currently available.