§ Mr. Arnoldasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to secure a greater level of Community investment in promoting forestry projects particularly in disadvantaged regions.
§ Mrs. FennerNone in relation to purely forestry projects.
The European Community has no common forestry policy. Forestry is not specifically mentioned in the Treaty of Rome, nor are wood and other forest products mentioned in the list of products in annex II to the Treaty to which the common agricultural policy applies. Scope for action on forestry is therefore limited to those aspects which fall within existing European Community policies, for example, agriculture, barriers to trade, regional policy, and a number of instruments have been adopted on this basis.
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§ Mr. Arnoldasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when forestry was last discussed in the Council of Ministers.
§ Mrs. FennerForestry was last discussed at the Agriculture Council in Luxembourg on 14 June 1982 in the limited context of the draft Council regulation on the acceleration of agricultural development in certain regions of Greece. Wider discussion of forestry last took place at meetings of the Agriculture Council in 1976 in the context of the European Community Commission's proposal for a Council directive on forestry measures. That proposal has not been adopted by the Council.