HC Deb 14 December 1978 vol 960 cc889-91
5. Mr. Neubert

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what action he is taking to get the European Commission to adopt the European unit of account for agricultural price purposes and to assess the effect of involvement in the European monetary system on such a policy.

Mr. Strang

The Commission has proposed that, with the introduction of a European monetary system, the European currency unit should be used in the common agricultural policy instead of the existing unit of account. The initial definition of the ECU would be the same as that of the European unit of account.

Mr. Neubert

Does not this move represent a good opportunity to remove some of the distortions and other undesirable features of the common agricultural policy? Are not the Government handicapped in securing those reforms by their inability to be fully involved in the system from the outset?

Mr. Strang

I do not think that I could accept the hon. Gentleman's thesis. The Government are continuing to press for the reform of the common agricultural policy. Above all, that means holding down common prices. We welcome the fact that our policy is now reflected in the Commission's undertaking to propose a general price freeze on all common prices this coming year.

Mr. Spearing

Does my hon. Friend agree that if the hon. Member for Rom-ford (Mr. Neubert) had really wanted an answer to his supplementary question he should have been in the Chamber for the second of the two debates that took place last night after 10 o'clock? Does he agree that if the hon. Gentleman had been so present he would have heard that these matters are so complex that one hon. Member suggested that only about a dozen hon. Members understand the arithmetic? Has my hon. Friend considered that claim and does he agree that it is about right?

Mr. Strang

Iagree with my hon. Friend that perhaps the hon. Member for Romford (Mr. Neubert) should have been present for the debates that took place after 10 o'clock last night. Indeed it was my hon. Friend who in those debates pointed to the complexity of these matters. The comment has some validity. The common agricultural policy is enormously complex and the implications of the changeover to EMS make it even more difficult to comprehend.

Mr. Marten

The Minister has already referred to the holding down of prices, but that is not a reform of the policy. What proposals have the Goverment for reforming the policy rather than the prices?

Mr. Strang

I disagree with the hon. Gentleman's basic observation. The more we consider the CAP the more we are forced to the conclusion that it is not so much the mechanisms that are at fault, unhappy as we are about some of them, but the level of protection. This applies both to the jacking up of prices, especially in Germany, and to the level of protection against third country imports. This is the real weakness.