§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the outcome of the Council of Agriculture Ministers' meeting on 18 and 19 April in Luxembourg; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe greater part of this meeting, at which I represented the United Kingdom, was devoted to discussion of the Commission's proposals for farm prices and related measures in 1988–89. No decisions were taken, and no real progress was made. The Council will return to the subject at its next meeting. I again emphasised the504W importance I attach to the devaluation of the green pound and the removal of monetary compensatory amounts for pigmeat.
The Council had, at its two previous meetings, reached agreement on the Commission's proposals for detailed implementation of the arrangements for stabilising agricultural expenditure and related matters, including the set-aside of arable land, following the outcome of the summit in February. This Council meeting included a session with representatives of the European Parliament, at which the Parliament's opinions on the Commission's proposals were discussed, with the exception of the stabiliser in the wine sector, on which the Parliament's opinion is not yet available. Following this discussion, it was decided that the texts of these measures should be formally adopted without further discussion next week except for wine which will be formally adopted as soon as the Parliament's opinion has been received. I made it clear that since it has always been crucial to the United Kingdom Government that the stabiliser package must be approved as a whole it would be necessary that appropriate arrangements were agreed for ensuring that the wine stabiliser was not weakened; I secured a satisfactory Council declaration on this point.
The Council reached agreement on the remaining technical points on a draft directive on quick-frozen foods. I successfully resisted attempts to reduce the 10-year transitional period for retail cabinets and temperature tolerance, which are of substantial importance to our industry. This directive will be finalised after further discussion on the implementing details.
I opposed the adoption of the proposals for the harmonisation of meat inspection charges, which is unsatisfactory in its present form. This proposal, together with those on the therapeutic use of hormones and the import of meat for pet food will come back to the Council at its next meeting after further discussion at official level.