The eighth meeting at ministerial level to negotiate the accession of Spain to the EC took place in Brussels. The Spanish delegation, presided over by José Pedro Perez Llorca, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and that of the EC, presided over by Peter Carrington, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, began by exchanging statements on the current state of affairs. The Spanish delegation gave statements concerning the following areas: customs union, the right of establishment and the freedom to provide services, and external relations.