§ Mr. Michael Brownasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will make a statement on the outcome of the meeting of the Council of Ministers on steel in Brussels on 26 March.
§ Mr. TebbitI represented the United Kingdom at the Council of Ministers on 26 March 1981.
The Council disussed the problems facing the Community steel industry. It reached agreement on a resolution in furtherance of the objective of restoring the industry to viability to eliminate the need for state aid. The Commission was requested to prepare a revised decision governing the conditions upon which state aids may be approved during the interim period before their elimination. Some important details, notably that of timing, have still to be settled.
The Council reaffirmed the importance it attached to co-operation between producers to secure a recovery in market prices and called upon them to achieve agreement on the conditions for such a recovery by 1 April. The Commission stated its intention to secure full compliance with the pricing rules of the ECSC treaty.
The Council is to examine in detail as soon as possible, in parallel with the decisions on restructuring and state aids, the appropriate social measures needed to mitigate the effects of capacity reduction.