§ Mr. John GreenwayTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Agriculture Council held on 16 and 17 November.
§ Mr. GummerI chaired this meeting of the Council at which my hon. Friend the Minister of State in my Department represented the United Kingdom.
The Council discussed the general agreement on tariffs and trade Uruguay round and the EC/US oilseeds dispute in the light of well-publicised, negative comments from some parts of the Community. Following a vigorous discussion, I was able to record unanimous agreement in the Council that the Commissioner should negotiate with the United States consistently within the conclusions of the recent Birmingham summit. These provide for the Commission to be instructed actively to pursue a settlement. I understand negotiations will in fact resume later today.
The Council agreed a 7 per cent. devaluation of the green pound to take effect immediately. This is a necessary step since charges on intra-community trade, like monetary compensatory amounts, will not be possible in the single market from 1 January 1993, and the knowledge that green and market rates will be aligned by that date was acting as an incentive to speculation. The move will be widely welcomed by British farmers; when fully worked through it will add less than 1 per cent. to the food price index.
The Council also agreed the principal regulation on the control of payments under the reformed common agricultural policy. This is a major step toward combating the possibility of fraud in the new system.