§ Mr. Budgenasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Council of Agriculture Ministers' meeting held on 7 and 8 May.
§ Mr. JoplingTogether with my hon. Friend the Minister of State, I represented the United Kingdom at the meeting of the Council of Agriculture Ministers on 7–8 May.
The Council discussed again access for New Zealand butter for 1984 and beyond. All member states except the Irish Republic were prepared to accept the Commission proposals for a five-year arrangement with fixed quantities on a gradually degressive basis. I emphasised the importance to New Zealand of a reasonable period of stability and made it clear that I was not prepared to endorse a compromise which fell short of what the New Zealand Government would find acceptable. The Commission will be having further negotiations with New Zealand and the Council will return to the issue in July. Meanwhile, access for New Zealand has been ensured by another two-month roll-over of the arrangement on the basis proposed by the Commission. The Council also decided to extend sheepmeat sensitive area arrangements for certain other non-member states.
The Council had a wide ranging discussion on some aspects of the Commission's proposed new structures programme. My hon. Friend expressed great concern at the massive increase in the estimated cost of this new programme compared to the existing programme and emphasised the need for decisions on structures to take account of the financial resources available. He also emphasised the importance of making a clear commitment to the need to safeguard the environment when improving agricultural structures through this programme; that in our view there should be some quantifiable objective for income and profitability improvement in farm plans financed under the scheme; and our support for the principle that the structures policy must have regard to the need for restraint of production of commodities already in or likely to become in surplus.
The Commissioner made a statement about the serious situation confronting the Community in the wine sector where the budget provision for 1984 has already been overspent. The Commission was not prepared to come forward with new proposals against this background. The Management Committee is to examine the reasons for the serious under-estimates of production. My hon. Friend expressed our great concern at the inaccuracies in data and in forecasting about which we had earlier warned and the substantial over-spending to which this was giving rise, and fully supported the need for an inquiry before any further policy decisions were taken.
The Council adopted general rules on production aids for processed fruit and vegetables by qualified majority vote—with Italy and Greece voting against.
There was agreement on the need to strengthen control measures on swine fever and the Council expressed the hope of having new arrangements in operation by 1 July.