HC Deb 17 July 1985 vol 83 cc192-3W
Mr. Maclean

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the outcome of the Council of Agriculture Ministers' meeting in Brussels on 15 and 16 July; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Jopling

I represented the United Kingdom at the Agriculture Council on 15–16 July at which Spain and Portugal were present for the first time as observers.

On cereals, the German Minister maintained his opposition to the 1.8 per cent. reduction in support prices for 1985–86. There was no change in the position of other delegations. Moreover, the Commission stated that they had no intention of varying the proposals which were before the Council in June.

With the Council still unable to reach agreement, the Commission stated that it would continue to apply the measures already taken for oilseed rape and durum wheat, and that it would also from 1 August introduce analogous measures for other cereals based on a price abatement of 1.8 per cent. and authorise member states to make an end-of-season payment for common wheat and rye of breadmaking quality in accordance with the proposals that were before the June Council.

The Commission stated its intention under Management Committee procedures to reduce the delay in the payment period for cereals bought into intervention from 120–140 days to 90–120 days which was also in the June proposals; and to operate a special intervention for breadmaking wheat towards the end of the 1985–86 marketing year.

The President said that he intended to keep cereal prices on the agenda for future meetings of the Council with a view to reaching a decision in the autumn. The Commission said that it would bring forward at the beginning of October, proposals for modifying the cereals regime to enable decisions to be taken by the end of 1985. The President and the Commission envisaged that these new proposals may facilitate discussions in the Council.

The Council reached agreement on a directive governing intra-community trade in heat treated milk. This lays down public health and animal health requirements for the production and processing of heat treated milk and the procedures to apply when this is traded between member states. There is provision for member states with high domestic standards, like the United Kingdom, to apply such higher standards to imports as soon as the directive comes into effect on 1 January 1989. This is a very satisfactory outcome; the directive is entirely consistent with the views which our industry put to us. The Council also agreed the minimum import price arrangements for currants, raisins and sultanas to apply from 1 September 1985. Consignments entering the Community up to 9 per cent. below the minimum price will be subject to a graduated levy, the full levy of 22 per cent. only coming into effect at lower prices. In addition, the minimum price in sterling terms will normally not be changed at intervals of less than two months. We would have preferred a three-monthly interval as better suited to our importers needs and I voted against the two month compromise on this ground. But the two month interval will be a major improvement on the one week that applies at present. Overall, we have pressed for and achieved changes in the original proposals which give greater certainty to our traders.

I am pleased to announce also that agreement was reached on an extension of the arrangements for aiding capital investment in animal feed mills in Northern Ireland. This provides an additional 4.5 million ecus over the period to the end of 1987.

I again expressed my concern about the delays in reaching a conclusion over the continued preferential price of gas to Dutch horticultural growers. Mr. Andriessen indicated that the Commission had yesterday made a formal application to the Court on this matter.

The Council agreed a regulation allowing the levels of export restitutions on pasta to be differentiated between destinations.

Mr. Andriessen introduced to the Council the Commission paper on "Perspectives for the Common Agricultural Policy". This is an important document in which the Commission sets out its thoughts as the basis for discussion within the Community. The Council will he discussing this in depth in the autumn.