asked the Secretary of State for Energy whether France has accepted the United Kingdom suggestion of a minimum safeguard price for oil of about $7 a barrel.

France is a party to the decision taken by the European Council on 2nd December 1975, that the Commission will propose, and the Council will decide as soon as posible, on appropriate mechanisms to protect and ensure the development of alternative sources of Community energy on reasonable economic terms. The Commission has proposed a minimum safeguard price of $7 a barrel. This proposal has yet to be considered by the Council.