Foreign Affairs Council (Hansard, 24 June 1981)

§ Sir Ian Gilmour

My right hon. and noble Friend and I represented the United Kingdom at this, the last Council of the Netherlands Presidency. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade attended for discussions on Japan and the multi-fibre arrangement.

The Council discussed final preparations for the meeting of the European Council to be held in Luxembourg on 29 and 30 June.

Member States approved a resolution on the introduction of a comman format for national passports of member States. The text of the resolution is being placed in the Library of the House. A full statement on this subject was given on 8 April in reply to the right hon. Member for Battersea, North (Mr. Jay).—[Vol. 2, c. 284.] The resolution incorporates the points of agreement which I explained in that reply. In particular, it is agreed that, while member States will endeavour to introduce passports in the common format by 1 January 1985, they may do so at a later date if the technical problems have not been resolved in time; as I said in my reply of 8 April, we intend to introduce the common format passport at the same time as we adopt the ICAO recommendations for a machine-readable passport which will bring real benefits to travellers and the immigration authorities. We cannot set a firm date for the change in the form of United Kingdom passports. The main features of the passport were described in my reply of 8 April: the cover will be burgundy red, not lilac, as some Press reports have suggested. and the main characteristics of our present passport such as the Royal Coat of Arms and the rubric "Her Brittanic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State … requests and requires" and so on will be retained. Some features such as the exact dimensions of the new passport remain to be worked out. There will be further opportunities for the new format passport to be debated before any change is made.

There was some discussion of the renewal of the Community's financial protocol with the countries of the Magreb and Mashraq and Israel, which expire on 31 October this year. No decisions were taken, but useful progress was made in working towards a consensus.

The President of the Commission gave an oral presentation of the Commission's proposals for structural changes to the Community budget, arising out of the 30 May agreement last year. The Commission's report is to be transmitted to Governments today. The Council agreed to ask Coreper to begin work as soon as possible after the European Council to clarify the issues and produce a work programme for Foreign Ministers to consider in September.

The Council approved a resolution outlining the new method for reviewing Community staff pay, and the Commission has agreed to prepare formal proposals accordingly. The new procedure for consultations between staff and Council was also adopted; this now includes a conciliation phase.

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A meeting of the Association Council between Malta and the Community was held, at Maltese request, to review progress and consider future developments in the EC-Malta Association Agreement of 1970. The Maltese side were led by the Prime Minister, Mr. Mintoff. The Community agreed to consider a second financial protocol for Malta when the current one expires in October 1983.

Ministers approved a report to the European Council setting out the position of the Community and its member States on relations with developing countries. The report—which was also endorsed by the Development Council—gives a clear indication of the Community 's continuing concern for the problems of the developing world, and puts the Community in a position to make a positive contribution to discussion at forthcoming international conferences.

The Council considered a draft mandate for the first round of substantive negotiations on renewal of the multifibre arrangement. This was referred back to the Committee of Permanent Representatives for further work and will be discussed again at the next meeting of the Council on 13 and 14 July.

The Commission presented a report on relations with Japan and referred to the recent undertaking by the Japanese Minister for International Trade and Industry that his Government would make a statement about increased imports of manufactured goods and ask the Japanese private sector to bring this about. The Council expressed interest in suggestions made by the Commission for common action to promote a better opening up of the Japanese market. The Council took note of the different import systems for Japanese cars which are applicable for 1981, and agreed the Commission should pursue exploratory talks for 1982 and beyond; agreed that surveillance of imports from Japan on passenger cars, colour TV sets and tubes and certain machine tools should be continued; and decided that the question of EC-Japan relations should be further discussed by the European Council on 29 and 30 June and by the next Foreign Affairs Council on 13 and 14 July in advance of the Ottawa summit.

The Council discussed the deposit of the Community's declaration of provisional application of the international cocoa agreement, and the Community's position at the United Nations conference currently negotiating a sixth international tin agreement in Geneva.

The Council accepted the Commission's offer to prepare a report on the functioning of Stabex in the light of the current situation in which valid claims are well in excess of available resources.

Finally, in the context of the negotiations for Portuguese accession to the Community, the Council agreed a positive paper on Customs union for transmission to the Portuguese Government.