§ 11. Mr. DunnTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what effect the development of agriculture in eastern Europe will have on the European Union.
§ Mr. SoamesTechnical improvements, and the development of market-oriented production systems could enable the farming industries of central and eastern European countries to pose a significant competitive challenge. Preferential access to EU markets under the Europe agreements will contribute to this.
§ Mr. DunnCan my hon. Friend confirm that it would be impossible to extend the common agricultural policy as it now stands to eastern and central Europe? Is that not a further good reason for seeking to reform the CAP so as to bring it nearer to the market?
§ Mr. SoamesI agree with my hon. Friend. Enlargement of the European Union to the east would involve unsustainable budgetary costs if the CAP remained in its present form. I hope that my hon. Friend will accept that the United Kingdom Government are leading efforts within the European Union to continue to bring the CAP closer to real world markets. I think that there is increasingly a more general understanding within the Community that unless those steps are taken, the CAP will disappear up its own fundamental.