§ Mr. Maclennanasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the outcome of the Council of Agriculture Ministers' meeting on 14 and 15 July.
§ Mr. GummerI represented the United Kingdom at this meeting which was chaired by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The main topic considered by the Council was the level of access for New Zealand butter to the United Kingdom market after present arrangements expire at the end of 1986. The Government regard the Commission's proposal, for quantities of 77,000 tonnes in 1987 and 75,000 tonnes in 1988, as consistent with the arrangements agreed when the United Kingdom joined the Community and with subsequent undertakings by Heads of Government. Moreover, all except one member state had been prepared to suport these figures when formerly proposed by the Commission in 1983.
On this occasion the proposal was acceptable to 11 member states, this despite the fact that farmers throughout the Community just as in Britain, have had their production cut back because of the dairy surplus. Only the Irish could not support the proposal and the Foreign Affairs Council next week will consider it further.
The Council had a discussion on the Commission's proposal for changes in the support system for beef, which had been left for later decision during the farm price negotiations last April. They also considered for the first time the set of proposals for socio-structural measures, 561W which the House debated on Tuesday 8 July. There was considerable divergence of views on both matters and the Council will need to return to them at later meetings.
The council also adopted a number of measures. One concerned the setting up of a register of vine producers and another provided aid for the restructuring of vine-growing in Portugal, parallel to arrangements already made for other member states. These mark new stages in the Community's increasingly successful policy to reduce the wine surplus. Other regulations adopted by the Council dealt with inward processing arrangements in the milk sector, a minor amendment to the mechanism governing trade with Spain, and the treatment of raw cane sugar produced in the overseas departments of France.