Relations with the Soviet Union
During his term of office Lord Plumb, in addition to asserting the new powers conferred on Parliament by the Single Act, championed and reaffirmed the values of democracy when dealing with countries which, at that time, were wanting in that respect.
In spring 1988 the Soviet President, Mikhail Gorbachev, proposed a constitutional reform package aimed to some extent at transferring power from the Party to representatives elected by the people, as well as at reducing the Party's role in the running of the local economy and increasing the power of the President. It was against this background that the President of the European Parliament was invited by the Supreme Soviet in September 1988 to pay an official visit at the most opportune moment in the history of political relations between the Soviet Union and the European Community.
In the above speech, Lord Plumb began by welcoming the improvement in East-West relations and expressing support for the economic modernisation programme; he then went on to suggest that meetings be held more regularly and given over more specifically to discussion of the trends in world agricultural trade.
Lord Henry Plumb, President of the European Parliament, meets Andrey Gromyko, the President of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium during a visit in Moscow in September 1988 © European Communitites, 1988 – European Parliament
Referring to the highlights of his term of office, Lord Plumb was to say that the most crucial watershed was perhaps the presidential visit to the Soviet Union, whose leadership had decided to recognise the Community as such and develop relations between the Supreme Soviet and the European Parliament.
The visit of Yasser Arafat
As a public figure representing a supranational democratic institution, Lord Plumb also became involved in the Middle East conflict. The visit of Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), to Strasbourg on 13 September 1988 at the invitation of the European Parliament's Socialist Group, attracted controversy. Though Arafat was not an official guest of the European Parliament, Lord Plumb agreed to meet him in order to spell out Parliament's views and express its horror at the use of violence, the message being above all one of peace and an appeal for negotiations.
As a result of this meeting, Lord Plumb received strong reactions, which are recorded in his Office's archives.
Two months later, on 15 November 1988, Arafat announced the declaration of independence and the creation of an independent Palestinian state. On 10 January 1989, Lord Plumb had the honour of being the first President of the European Parliament to address the Israeli Knesset. In his speech, he expressed that the European Community was in favour of an international conference, to enable talks to be held with the PLO, and supported the Palestinians' right to self-determination.
Relations with developing countries
Lord Plumb was member the European Parliament’s committee overseeing relations with developing nations and later became Co-President of the EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly. In his address to the opening ceremony of EU-ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly (Madrid, 19 September 1988), he stressed:
"We Europeans enjoy a privileged relationship with our ACP partners in the Lomé Convention - and we are determined to deepen and strengthen this relationship, particularly in the light of the broader international economic framework which is currently under considerable strain."