§ Mr. Michael Shawasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether agreement has yet been reached by the Community on guide prices for 1982 in the fish sector.
§ Mr. Buchanan-SmithAgreement on guide prices for 1982 was reached at the Council of Ministers meeting on 15 December. The new prices will come into effect on 1 January 1982.
The Commission's original proposals for guide prices for fish for 1982 were contained in document 10710/81 dated 16 November.
The Select Committee on European Legislation noted that these proposals were politically important and recommended them for debate. The Commission's 181W proposals and their implications for our fishing industry were specifically discussed in the course of the supply debate on the common fisheries policy of 9 December; it was clearly established then that the Government's view that the Commission's proposals were disappointing was widely supported in the House.
Since they were published we have been able to negotiate useful improvements to the Commission's proposals as they related to species of particular importance to our industry. We agreed to allow the revised guide prices to go forward for adoption by the Council only after we were satisfied that there was no prospect of securing further improvements to those already agreed in a series of hard negotiations. In reaching this decision we also had in mind that any further delay in reaching agreement would have made it impossible for the new prices to come into effect on 1 January next.
Details of the proposals finally agreed for 1982 together with 1981 guide prices will be placed in the Library.