Foreign Affairs Council (Hansard, 21 March 1994)

§ Mr. Barnes
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Norwich, North (Mr. Thompson) of 9 March,Official Report, column 245, on items agreed and adopted at the meeting of the European Community's Foreign Affairs Council held on 21 to 22 February, what formal votes were taken otherwise than on the United States' and European Community's mutual recognition on spirit designations; and if he will make it his practice to record automatically in future answers on all such votes, including those where no formal votes have been taken.

§ Mr. Heathcoat-Amory
There were no votes on the other items discussed in the Council and recorded in my statement on 9 March.
The Council also formally approved a number of measures on which agreement had already been reached—known as A points—without further discussion. Details are given in the Council secretariat press releases issued after Council meetings. Copies will be placed in the Library.

§ Mr. Wells
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Foreign Affairs Council held on 15 March in Brussels.

§ Mr. Hurd
I attended the Foreign Affairs Council held in Brussels on 15 March.
The Council reached a satisfactory agreement on the fisheries aspect of Norway's accession negotiations. The common fisheries policy's rules applying within the waters of the Twelve generally, and the special rules applying to Spain and Portugal under the accession treaty, are unchanged. Reciprocal arrangements for access to Community and Norwegian resources, including the setting of total allowable catches and quotas, fully respect the principle of relative stability. Transitional arrangements have been agreed which enable Norway to continue its fisheries agreement with Russia until it expires at the end of June 1998, and to continue various features of its current management and control system north of 62 deg north for up to three years on a non-discriminatory basis. The Council also agreed arrangements to provide additional quotas of cod for the cohesion countries. On this basis, Norway settled its terms of accession to the European Union.
The Foreign Affairs Council also discussed the qualified majority voting arrangements which will apply once the EFTAn applicants have joined the European Union. With Spanish support, I emphasised the need to ensure the adequate protection of significant minorities in the Council. Other Ministers argued that the qualified majority should be kept constant as a proportion of the total 12W number of votes after enlargement. The matter will be discussed again at a specially convened Foreign Affairs Council on 22 March.
There was a useful discussion on the new own resources decision and the budget discipline decision in which some progress was made towards securing United Kingdom objectives. Both issues will be discussed at ECOFIN on 21 March, where we hope for agreement on all outstanding points.
There were no formal votes.