Council of Agriculture Ministers (Hansard, 20 June 1984)

§ Mr. Jopling

Together with my hon. Friend the Minister of State, I represented the United Kingdom at the meeting of the Council of Agriculture Ministers on 18–19 June. Considerable progress was made on a number of items.

An outline agreement was reached on New Zealand butter which, within a five-year framework, assures access in calendar years 1984, 1985 and 1986 for quantities of 83,000 tonnes, 81,000 tonnes and 79,000 tonnes, respectively. The amounts for the two following years will be determined later. This access arrangement for the next five years will greatly assist New Zealand in the orderly marketing of its butter and has been welcomed by it, though some points of detail remain to be resolved as quickly as possible.

It was agreed that the maximum rate of levy on B quota sugar should be set at 37.5 per cent. because of the high level of expenditure on export refunds.

The Council adopted a regulation amending the egg marketing regulation. This is a useful first step in updating the rules on the marketing of eggs in a way which meets the United Kingdom's essential requirements.

Agreement was reached on a new regulation providing for aids to marketing and processing. I emphasised that the Community does not have funds available for increased commitments of this sort, and costs must be held down. It was agreed that the financial provision could be settled only in the context of funds becoming available for the FEOGA guidance sector as a whole. I stress the need to continue the modernisation of animal feed mills in Northern Ireland. I succeeded in securing a Council declaration recognising this need. The Council also agreed that the existing structures directives should be extended for a further four months until 31 October 1984. This should enable the outstanding work on new structures policies to be completed in an orderly way.

Considerable progress was made on a package of harmonisation measures on veterinary matters, including a satisfactory agreement in principle on permanent trading arrangements to protect the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark from foot and mouth disease. Agreement in principle was 190W also reached on measures to improve the control of swine fever in the Community and on the official recognition of certain tests for the diagnosis of brucellosis which are used in this country and some other member states. It was not possible, however, to reach agreement on the harmonisation of arrangements for charging for poultrymeat inspection and this meant that the package as a whole could not be finally settled. The Council will be returning to the poultrymeat charging question. Meanwhile, there will be a six months' extension until 31 December 1984 of existing rules on foot and mouth and of existing derogations under the poultrymeat directive.

There was provisional agreement, subject to a Danish reserve, on setting up financial control agencies to monitor olive oil subsidy payments and to define more clearly the obligations of member states to penalise false claims.

Finally, I stressed the need for all member states to implement the supplementary levy arrangements on milk in accordance with the decisions of the Council. I said that it would not be acceptable if individual producers in some member states were being required to pay the supplementary levy in accordance with the agreement reached while some member states were manifestly failing to apply the agreed rules. The commissioner agreed with and supported my statement.