Foreign Affairs Council (Hansard, 21 December 1983)

§ Sir Geoffrey Howe

I represented the United Kingdom at the Foreign Affairs Council which met in Brussels on 229W 19 December. This was the last such meeting under the Greek Presidency. A ministerial conference with Spain was also held in the margins of the 'Council.

Ministers discussed the European Parliament's vote last week on the draft 1984 budget. The Council agreed that in unilaterally altering the classification of United Kingdom and German refunds, in placing them in the reserve chapter and in increasing the maximum rate for non-obligatory expenditure without Council agreement as required by the treaty, the Parliament had exceeded its powers. The Council's position on these major points and other points of difficulty, was set out formally and specifically in a letter to the President of the European Parliament.

Ministers discussed the next stage in the negotiations under the mandate given by the Stuttgart European Council. The French Presidency will be putting forward its own procedural suggestions in due course. I urged more intensive preparation in the months ahead to enable the March European Council to focus on a shorter agenda than the one submitted to Heads of Government at Athens. I emphasised that there would need to be an overall agreement on the main elements identified at Stuttgart which had not changed as a result of the Athens European Council.

Ministers discussed progress on Greenland's application to withdraw from full membership of the Community and agreed to conclude negotiations as soon as possible so that Greenland's new status could come into effect from 1 January 1985. The Council will consider the matter further at its meeting in January.

The Council discussed its relations with Cyprus under the EC-Cyprus association agreement and it was agreed that the second financial protocol to the agreement should be signed. The Council asked the Commission to consider further the technical aspects of trade with Cyprus and to report back.

Progress was made towards agreement on six new regulations to provide aid under the non-quota section of the European regional development fund in sectors including steel, textiles, shipbuilding, and energy. There was also some discussion of other energy matters, including a proposal for renewed action to promote intraCommunity trade in coking coal and new regulations for energy demonstration projects to promote alternative sources of energy in the Community. These, together with social aid to the coal industry and Community policy on solid fuels, will be discussed again early next year.

The Council adopted a declaration stating the Community's intention of taking certain steps to implement international commitments to roll back protectionism as recovery proceeds. These include accelerated tariff reductions, on a reciprocal basis with major OECD trading partners and subject to the confirmation of current forecasts of economic growth in the European Community of the order of 2 per cent. in 1984; and the elimination to the maximum extent possible of quantitative restrictions on imports from the least developed countries.

Ministers agreed to open an interim duty-free import quota for 500,000 tonnes of newsprint from 1 January 230W 1984. This was the highest figure on which agreement could be achieved, and we made it clear that it is inadequate to meet the United Kingdom's, let alone the whole of the Community's needs; the Commission will review the position and submit further proposals in April. Ministers also agreed on future procedures for drawing up the Community's annual food aid programmes.

At the ministerial conference, the Community and Spain reached agreement on the substance of the Euratom chapter. The Community and Spain also made further progress on technical aspects of the European Coal and Steel Community and external relations chapters. In the context of the latter, the Community and Spain agreed that application of Community obligations in respect of external trade meant, from accession, the elimination of all obstacles to trade between Spain and Gibraltar except as permitted by exceptions and derogations in accordance with Community law.