Earl Ferrersasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the outcome of the Council of Agriculture Ministers' meeting held in Brussels on 30–31 March; and whether they will make a Statement.
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Lord Belstead)My right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food represented the United Kingdom at this meeting, together with my right honourable friend the Minister of State.
The Council had a first discussion of the Commission's proposals for agricultural support prices and arrangements for 1987/88. No decisions were reached on these proposals, and the Council will take them up again at its next meeting on 27th April. The marketing years for beef and dairy products, which otherwise would have expired, were therefore extended until 31st May. The Council also decided to continue for a similar period the suspension of part of the French and UK monetary compensatory amounts on eggs and poultrymeat, thus maintaining the benefit of these arrangements to our producers.
Against a background of the very high cost of the common agricultural policy, which is threatening to 685WA exceed budgetary ceilings, my right honourable friend supported the main elements of the proposals; namely, a tough policy on the prices themselves, the strengthening and extension of guarantee threshold mechanisms, and a weakening of the support provided through intervention buying. In several areas my right honourable friend felt the proposals did not go far enough in these directions.
686WAMy right honourable friend made clear his opposition to certain parts of the proposals: first and foremost to the tax on vegetable and marine oils and fats, which would place a burden on consumers, besides risking a major dispute with overseas suppliers; and also to the proposals to limit the payment of the ewe premium to a given number of ewes per farm, and to end intervention for salted butter.