Council of Ministers (Hansard, 22 November 1978)

§ Dr. Owen

During this Council, the first ever ministerial meeting between the EEC and the Association of South-East Asian Nations was held on 20th and 21st November. The two sides exchanged views on a wide range of political and economic questions and agreed that exploratory discussion on the content of a possible co-operation agreement should begin shortly.

The Foreign Ministers Council reviewed preparations for the European Council in Brussels on 4th and 5th December. Items to be discussed include, in particular, the proposed European monetary system, including concurrent studies, and improvements to the CAP on which the Commission is to make proposals.

The Council invited the Commission to press ahead with the GATT multilateral trade negotiations on the understanding that no final conclusion could be reached until the problem of the United 626W Kingdom countervailing waiver had been satisfactorily resolved.

The Council conducted a brief review of the Community's relations with Japan prior to the next EEC—Japan high level consultations on 8th and 9th December, on which the Commission was asked to report back to the next Council on 19th December.

There was further discussion of the Commission's proposals for negotiating directives for a new EEC—Yugoslavia agreement.

The Council took stock of the progress made so far in the negotiations for a new EEC-ACP convention and agreed to invite the ACP to take part in a ministerial negotiating conference before the end of the year.

The Council briefly considered the Community's generalised scheme for preferences for 1979, and remitted the matter to officials for further study.

The Council reviewed a progress on a mandate for the negotiation of a Euratom-Australia nuclear safeguards agreement and asked for further work to be done with a view to reaching agreement on the mandate very shortly.

There was an extensive discussion of steel, particularly the renewal of the anti-crisis measure—the Davignon plan. Arrangements for the extension of third country agreements were also discussed, and the mandate for their conclusion will be considered further at the December Council.

The Council took note of progress at the Common Fund negotiating conference currently being held at Geneva. Foreign Ministers discussed a draft mandate for the committee to review Community procedures in the light of enlargement to twelve—the "three wise men" proposal. The proposal will now be considered further at the European Council on 4th and 5th December.

On the common fisheries policy, the Council noted the continuing United Kingdom reserve on the draft framework agreements with third countries pending progress on outstanding aspects of the internal regime. The Council emphasised the need for progress on the CFP as a whole at the Fisheries Council on 23rd and 24th November.

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It was agreed that the draft directive concerning the freedom of establishment of architects would be examined further before being discussed again at the next Council in December.

The Council discussed adjustments in duty and tax exemptions for international travellers and for small gift packets intended to offset the effect of the changeover from the old unit of account to the European unit of account in the Customs sphere on 1st January 1979.

The Council reviewed the progress of the conciliation procedure taking place with the European Assembly on two regulations: the Regional Development Fund regulation for 1978–80 and the regulation on aid to non-associated States.

I reminded my colleagues that it was important for the emoluments of directly-elected Members of the Assembly to be settled well in advance of the elections.

Detailed questions relating to the establishment of the European Foundation were remitted to officials for further consideration.