HC Deb 12 December 1984 vol 69 cc1047-9
80. Mr. Deakins

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if the Council of Agriculture Ministers will be asked to approve the statement on budgetary disciplines before it is finally approved by European Economic Community Foreign Ministers.

Sir Geoffrey Howe

No, Sir. The text on budgetary discipline was formally adopted by the Foreign Affairs Council in Dublin on 4 December.

Mr. Deakins

Is the agreement by the Foreign Affairs Ministers legally binding on the Council of Agriculture Ministers? If it is not, why should it pay any attention to the agreement?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

As the hon. Gentleman will recollect, there is only one Council of Ministers. It is sometimes attended by Finance Ministers, sometimes by Foreign Ministers and sometimes by Agriculture Ministers. The text represents a firm undertaking by the to take to ensure that more of the 1,000 or so highly paid jobs involved go to British nationals, as they should, rather than to French and Belgian nationals as at present?

Mr. Rifkind

My hon. Friend properly draws attention to what has been a problem. We have been exercising ourselves energetically in recent years to rectify the position. The position is now reasonably healthy in the higher grades, but there is still a problem to be resolved with some of the lower grades within the Community, particularly in agriculture, development of the budget, the secretariat, and the Council secretariat. We shall continue to make representations on those matters.

Sir Anthony Meyer

Has my hon. Friend noted that the French Government have appointed as their two Commissioners their former Foreign Minister and former Finance Minister? If we wish to stake a claim to important posts within the Community, would it not be a good idea to appoint persons of that calibre rather than the two—I had better not say it—rather less than first-class political personalities whom we have chosen?

Mr. Rifkind

My hon. Friend's remarks are unworthy. One of the two British Commissioners to the Community is a respected former Cabinet Minister, and the other was an important member of the previous Government. My hon. Friend does no service to the United Kingdom by suggesting that their qualifications are other than excellent for the jobs that they will occupy. Following are the figures:

Council, which has committed itself to observe the provisions. It is an undertaking which is as valid and effective in relation to Agriculture Minister as to any others.

Mr. Winnick

How does the Foreign Secretary compare his words about better financial discipline, and the rest, with the thousands of tonnes of beef, butter and milk powder that are being held in stores within the United Kingdom? Is the Foreign Secretary aware that I have a list of thousands of tonnes of such food? Will he use his influence to ensure that such food is sold at reduced prices in Britain and used for people in distressed areas? There are 2,000 tonnes of milk powder being held in one intervention store in the west midlands.

Sir Geoffrey Howe

The hon. Gentleman correctly identifies one of the features of the common agricultural policy which must be reformed. It is being reformed as a result of the measures agreed by the Agriculture Council on 31 March this year. In regard to milk and butter production, total Community milk production is down by 3.4 per cent. this year, and butter production is down by 9.5 per cent. The reduction of present stocks and the problem of the creation of additional stocks are central objectives of the reform of the CAP, upon which the Community is now embarked

Mr. Marlow

While my right hon. and learned Friend is rightly concerned to keep public expenditure strictly under control at home, can he explain to the House and the country why the Government have put their name to this ramshackle vessel, which will founder at the first squall?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

Because they take a totally different view from the somewhat eccentric one to which my hon. Friend has for so long been committed.

Mr. Wigley

Is the Foreign Secretary aware of the misgivings that many milk producers have that other EC countries may not be abiding totally by the quota agreement? Will he give the House an assurance that, if that is the case, we shall not screw our farmers down and suffer disproportionately as a result?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

I am aware of the anxiety that is rightly felt by the farming community in Britain in that respect. In four other countries already the production is currently less than the total quota which has been allocated to them. One country, Italy, does not yet appear to have taken steps to implement the super levy, and the Commission has instituted infraction proceedings against Italy. We attach importance to the discipline being enforced effectively across the board.

Mr. Budgen

If there is such widespeard and strong determination to enforce budgetary control, why has the payment of the super levy been postponed by all the nation states on so many occasions?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

I suspect that, because of the way in which the market arrangements are going, the requirement for payment of the super levy has not yet arisen. The postponement to, I think, 14 December is being applied uniformly.

Mr. Robin Cook

Has the Foreign Secretary observed that the Strasbourg Assembly proposed the insertion, on the revenue side of next year's budget, of an expected revenue of 120,000 ecu from payments of the super levy, and that the Commission has since deleted that entry on the ground that it does not expect to receive payments? Does not that speak volumes for the confidence of the Commission in its own system for controlling agricultural expenditure?

Sir Geoffrey Howe

If the system operates so as effectively to reduce the output on a substantial scale, that will, of course, have an effect on the likelihood of the super levy being paid on the scale on which it would otherwise be paid. I think that chat must be the answer to the hon. Gentleman's question.