§ 1. Mr. PatersonWhat percentage reduction in the EU agriculture budget he will be seeking in discussions in the Council of Ministers on CAP reform. [22301]
§ The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Dr. John Cunningham)I shall be seeking CAP reforms that deliver lower prices to consumers in the short term and savings to taxpayers in due course.
§ Mr. PatersonTen days ago I addressed 4,000 angry, upset farmers in Oswestry. Numerous farmers from the crowd said that they wanted not subsidies or regulation, but to sell their quality product in fair and free conditions. If CAP reform is a priority of the Government, why did the Prime Minister not mention it in his speech of welcome to the President of the Commission on 8 January?
§ Dr. CunninghamThe briefing material associated with the meeting with the Commission on that date certainly reiterated the Government's commitment to CAP reform, as has my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary both in his speeches in Europe and in a recent interview published in Le Monde. I reiterated the Government's commitment in my first address to the Agriculture Council in Brussels on Tuesday.
§ Mr. GodmanDoes my right hon. Friend agree that what is badly and urgently needed is the comprehensive reform of both the common agricultural policy and the common fisheries policy, and that without such reform there can be no enlargement of the Union?
§ Dr. CunninghamI agree that we need to look for both those reforms. It is pleasing and encouraging that CAP reform is now very much on the agenda and I expect to see detailed proposals from Commissioner Fischler some time in March. We are scheduled to have reform of the common fisheries policy by 2002.
§ Sir Michael SpicerThe Minister did not answer the original question at all, but if one assumes that implicit in what he said was the idea of lower subsidies, does he 1128 agree with the National Farmers Union that with that should go a closer comparison between world prices and the prices charged for our agricultural products?
§ Dr. CunninghamYes. I am pleased to say that I agree with that important point. The whole thrust of reform of the CAP should be to dismantle production controls, which inhibit many of our farmers, to move towards world market prices and to decouple from production the transitional support for that change.
§ Mr. Andrew GeorgeWhat approach does the Minister take in the debate about modulation in the reform of the common agricultural policy? That will be crucial for the future, especially for small farms, and it is essential that he retain an open mind on the subject.
§ Dr. CunninghamI have made my position on modulation abundantly clear. I am opposed to it or to any proposal managed and controlled from Brussels that would be detrimental to efficient farming interests in this country.