Special and Foreign Affairs Councils (Hansard, 30 November 1983)

§ Sir Geoffrey Howe

With my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer I represented the United 541W Kingdom at the Special Council which met in Brussels on 28–29 November. The Foreign Affairs Council on 29 November was attended by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, my right hon. Friend the Minister for Trade and my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry.

This was the last meeting of the Special Council before next week's European Council. Discussion centred on trying to narrow down the list of essential points on which Heads of Government need to take decisions. These relate primarily to the control of Community expenditure, including agricultural spending and to the correction of budgetary inequities. Interesting new proposals for an effective mechanism for controlling Community expenditure were tabled by the French Government. On budgetary imbalances, some progress was made in establishing the framework in which decisions must be taken. I again made clear that agreement on a package of decisions at Athens must depend upon our being satisfied on overall control of expenditure including agricultural spending and on a solution to the present budget inequity. There as further discussion on new Community policies as well as on the structural funds. These subjects, along with the main issues under discussion, will be incorporated in a Presidency text for submission to Heads of Government.

Given the limited time available after the Special Council for discussion of Foreign Affairs Council business, steel issues—the Commission's proposals for negotiating the renewal of voluntary restraint arrangements for steel imports from third countries in 1984, and for short-term measures for steel, including mandatory minimum prices, and also the problem of United States measures against special steel imports—were discussed at a separate session within the framework of the Foreign Affairs Council. This session is the subject of a separate reply by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to my hon. Friend the Member for Staffordshire, South-East (Mr. Lightbown).

In the general session of the Council, Ministers considered progress in the negotiations for Greenland's withdrawal from the Community. It was agreed that every effort should be made to ensure rapid progress towards a mutually satisfactory agreement. The Council will discuss this further in December.

Ministers reviewed the progress on a number of proposals submitted by the Commission designed to meet the demands made in the Greek memorandum of 19 March 1982. Not all the proposals foreshadowed by the Commission at the European Council at Stuttgart in June have yet been submitted. Further work is needed on those that have before they will be ready for decision.

The Council discussed the working of the EC/Cyprus association agreement in the light of the Turkish Cypriot declaration of statehood. It was agreed that a Commission delegation should visit Nicosia for discussions with the Government of Cyprus.

Ministers agreed that the EC/ACP ministerial meeting, which had been scheduled for December, should be postponed until early in 1984. They also agreed on the admission to the Lomé sugar protocol of the Ivory Coast and on the restoration of a preferential sugar quota to India. Agreement by the Council on the Commission's proposal for a supplementary import quota for newsprint for 1983—a matter of particular importance to British users of newsprint—was prevented by the continued opposition of one member state. The issue will be 542W considered further by the Committee of Permanent Representatives, where we shall continue to press urgently for a decision.

Ministers noted the measures announced by the Japanese Government to stimulate domestic demand and appreciated the will to encourage imports that these measures represented, but remained profoundly concerned by the continued deterioration in the balance of trade between the Community and Japan. Ministers also noted the assurances of moderation given by Japan concerning the export of certain sensitive products to the EC in 1984, and agreed that they would need to be monitored closely.

The Council approved the Commission's proposal to increase the tariff on digital audio discs. It reaffirmed the importance it attached to the international declarations on the rollback of protectionist measures, considered that the Commission proposal had substantial merits and expected to take a decision at an early opportunity after further consideration at official level.

Ministers reconfirmed the Commission's negotiating mandate for the renewal of the textiles agreement with China.

The Council agreed declarations on agriculture and social affairs which were presented to the Portugese at a ministerial meeting in the margins of the Council.