91997E2012

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2012/97 by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission (4 June 1997)

Subject: Hong Kong

The Commission will be aware that the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the question of Hong Kong stated that the legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be constituted by elections. The Commission will also be aware that a provisional Legislative Council 'elected' by 400 chosen electors has already been meeting and conducting business in advance of the change of sovereignty on 1 July 1997, and the same Provisional Legislative Council will replace the existing elected council in the early hours of 1 July.

Does the Commission agree that the actions of the Provisional Legislative Council to date are a breach of the 1984 Declaration, and that the operation of the said Council after 30 June also constitutes a breach of that international agreement which is registered with the United Nations?

Answer given by Sir Leon Brittan on behalf of the Commission (25 June 1997)

The Commission is not able to give the precise legal analysis requested by the Honourable Member of an agreement to which the Community is not a party. Clearly, however, the controversy and concern aroused by the designation last December of the future members of the Provisional Legislative Council can only be harmful to general confidence in continuity in Hong Kong after the handover. That is why the Commission called at the time for elections to take place as soon as possible after the handover of the Special Administrative Region (SAR), so that a new Legislative Council could be established.

Since then, the designated members of the future Provisional Legislative Council have met, but do not purport to function as a Provisional Legislative Council until 1 July 1997.

Meanwhile, the 9th plenary session of the preparatory committee of the Hong Kong SAR specified in May the method for the election of the first Legislative Council of the SAR.

The election methods now decided for the first Legislative Council reflect those established for subsequent Legislative Council elections in the Basic Law for Hong Kong (promulgated in 1990 to enact the Joint Declaration to which the Honourable Member refers). They comprise a mixture of procedures, direct and indirect, including election by a specially selected electoral college.

The Commission welcomes the decision of the preparatory committee that elections to the first Legislative Council should take place at the latest by 30 June 1998. The Commission hopes that those elections can take place much earlier than this, so that progress can begin towards the agreed 'ultimate objective' fixed under the Basic Law of elections by universal suffrage for all members of the SAR Legislative Council.