EC Legislation (Hansard, 18 November 1987)

§ Mr. MacGregor

A number of Community measures were adopted during the recess. At the request of the Select Committee on European Legislation, I wish to explain the circumstances relating to four measures.

The first measure concerns the agreement with the United States on Community exports of pasta products. On 7 August the Council by written procedure endorsed the draft agreement reached by the Commission and the United States Government on a long-standing dispute over the Community's export regime for pasta products, pending a definitive solution in the GATT round negotiations. The settlement averted the escalation of the dispute into what seemed likely to be an unnecessarily damaging round of measures and counter-measures affecting EC/United States trade in agricultural products. The settlement involves a reduction in the level of export refunds paid on EC exports of pasta products to the United States, and agreement that in future half the total of EC pasta products exports to the United States should be made under the inward processing relief arrangement rather than with the benefit of export refunds. The Government supported the agreement (despite parliamen-tary scrutiny not having been completed) because it averted the threat of a damaging trade dispute at the outset of negotiations in the Uruguay GATT round and did not prejudice the Community's position on paying export refunds on processed products in general. The United Kingdom has valuable exports of processed food and drink: United Kingdom exports totalled £3 billion in 1986. Early endorsement of the agreement reached between the Commission and the United States Government was thus in the United Kingdom interest.

The second measure concerns the interim steps on the future financing of the common agricultural policy. On 19–20 October, the Agriculture Council adopted proposal 7690/87 introducing special rules relating to the financing of the common agricultural policy. This was an interim measure to deal with the expectation, which has now been borne out, that Community funds would last until about the end of October. The measure has the effect of delaying payment by two months, which is sufficient to ensure that there would be no overrun of the Budget provision in 1987. I therefore agreed to its adoption on this necessary time scale and in advance of scrutiny.

The third measure concerns an increase in the total allowable catch (TAC) for cod in ICES area VII (except Vila), including cod in the English Channel. Following advice from the Commission's Scientific and Technical Committee on Fisheries that the 1987 TAC for this stock could safely be increased, the Fisheries Council on 29 September agreed a Commission proposal that the TAC should be increased from 16,000 to 19,000 tonnes. This cod stock is of importance to British fishermen and the fishery has been subject to restrictions for most of the year. I therefore judged it in the United Kingdom interest to see 563W this proposal adopted without awaiting parliamentary scrutiny. Formal adoption took place at a Council meeting on 5 October.

The fourth measure concerns an interim autonomous scheme of control in respect of Community vessels fishing in the regulatory area of the North-West Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO), which was also agreed at the Fisheries Council on 29 September. The introduction of an autonomous control scheme was necessary following the Community's withdrawal from the existing joint interna-tional enforcement scheme with effect from 26 June 1987 and in the absence of agreement so far on its renegotiation. Although there is at present little direct United Kingdom interest in the fisheries in these waters, I judged it to be in the United Kingdom interest for the Community to be seen to be meeting its control obligations with the minimum of delay and for the proposal to be adopted without awaiting parliamentary scrutiny. Formal adop-tion took place at a Council meeting on 19 October.