§ Lord Gray of Continasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the outcome of the Council of Agriculture Ministers' meeting on 19th-20th January 1987.
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Belstead)My right honourable friends the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Minister of State represented the United Kingdom at the Council of Agriculture Ministers on 19th-20th January.
Much of the meeting was taken up with discussions of the negative monetary compensatory amounts to be applied to pigs, eggs and poultry following the recent EMS realignment conference. A political agreement was finally reached on a compromise under which the new increased negative mcas will be introduced for these sectors tomorrow, 22nd January. There is provision for 1½ percentage points of pigmeat mcas to be removed in two stages—0.5 of a point on 16th February and 1 point at the beginning of the 1987–88 milk year. For eggs and poultry the council will take decisions before the beginning of the 1987–88 year on the basis of proposals which the Commission will be making generally on the agri-monetary system. My right honourable friend the Minister insisted throughout this difficult negotiation that there had to be parallel treatment for the United Kingdom in order to safeguard our interests, and this was secured.
1025WAThe council reached an agreement on the quantity of manufacturing beef to be imported into the Community in 1987 under the balance sheet arrangements. The quantity agreed is 15,000 tonnes of processing beef (of which two-thirds is to be for products of particular concern to the United Kingdom manufacturers); in addition, a special quota of 8,000 tonnes of high quality beef was agreed. The Commission also repeated its assurance of last year about making beef out of intervention available for manufacturing. The council also agreed on the import of 168,000 head under the balance sheet for male calves. Given the difficult situation in the beef sector in the Community, these arrangements are a satisfactory outcome for the current year.
The council discussed and took a number of decisions in principal on arrangements for distributing free food through recognised charitable organisations to the poorest sections of the population who have suffered most from the severe winter. My right honourable friend the Minister welcomed this humanitarian action. Several details remain to be clarified by the Commission. Discussions have already 1026WA taken place with representatives of charitable organisations in the United Kingdom on what administrative arrangements should best be made to ensure that the food is distributed efficiently and effectively to those who are to benefit. We shall announce details of these arrangements as soon as they have been worked out.