§ Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with other EU countries concerning monopolies with respect to milk marketing; and if she will make a statement. [39264]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 28 February 2002]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no discussions with other member states about monopolies with respect to milk marketing.
§ Mrs. Ann WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has made to the European Commission on the proposed milk quota allocation for applicant EU member states; and what assessment she has made of the impact on the UK dairy industry of the quota allocations proposed under the EU formula for new member states. [37922]
§ Mr. MorleyThe UK favours the abolition of milk quotas in advance of enlargement. If, however, this does not prove to be possible we believe the approach taken in the European Commission's paper on milk quota allocation for acceding countries to be a sound one. It follows previous practice, when quotas were first introduced in 1984, and in other EU enlargement processes, whereby quota is fixed on the basis of historical production during a set reference period, in this case the average for the years 1997–99. As such, there should be no impact on the UK dairy sector. We have made it clear to the Commission that we are looking for an outcome which is both fair and does not create new obstacles for CAP reform.