Council of Ministers (Business) (Hansard, 1 February 1990)

§ 7. Mr. Maude

The information is as follows:

Forecast of Council of Ministers' business for February 1990

Council meetings

1. The following meetings are planned:
5 February— Foreign Affairs Council.
12 February— Economic and Finance Council.
12–13 February— Agriculture Council
22 February— Internal Market Council.
26 February— Research Council.

2. The following subjects are likely to be discussed:
A. Foreign Affairs Council
Trade relations with United States: progress report by Commission
Cars
Relations with East/Central Europe
CSCE: preparation of Bonn Conference
European Training Foundation
Youth Exchange Schemes for Eastern Europe
Mediterranean Countries: Policy Debate
Turkey
(Poss) Lome IV Transitional Measures
EMU (Procedure)
B. Economic and Finance Council
EC Loan to Hungary (10788/89)
Financial Regulation: Conciliation with European Parliament
EMU Stage l: Presidency Paper on Revised Procedures
C. Agriculture Council
Price Fixing (4090/90)
Bovine Semen (9729/89)
Brucellosis in Sheep and Goats (9710/89)
(Poss) Proof of Export (Annex II Documents)
(Poss) Monitoring of Export Refunds (7548/89)
(Poss) BST (8975/89)
(Poss) African Swine Fever in Sardinia (9727/89)
(Poss) Food Aid for Poland/Romania
D. Internal Market Council
Rights of Residence (7706/89)
Public Purchasing:
Excluded Sectors
Compliance in the Excluded Sectors Presentation

Pharmeceutical Proposals:
Wholesalers;
Packaging and Labelling;
Non-Prescribed Retail Sales: Presentation

Insurance: Block Exemption: Presentation
E. Research Council
Adoption of 3rd Framework Programme
Adoption of following programmes under 2nd Framework Programme:
(Poss) Human Genome Research
(Poss) Agricultural Research
Co-operation Agreement with EFTA Countries on
Science and (possibly) Medical and Health
Research
Common Positions on:
(Poss) EURET (Transport)
(Poss) EUROTRA (Revision)
Conciliation with EP on Framework Programme

	Number Employed (whole-time equivalents)			Resignations
Year (1 April to 31 March)	Managerial staff	Support staff	Total	Managerial staff	Support staff	Total
1979–80	—	—	723	—	—	58
1980–81	—	—	721	—	—	58
1981–82	—	—	717	—	—	58
1982–83	—	—	732	—	—	58

310W

The Foreign Affairs Council will meet on 5 February. Ministers will take stock of recent developments in EC/US trade relations including EC acceptance of the GATT panel report on the EC's oilseeds regime and the present position of the hormones dispute. The Council is expected to discuss relations with Eastern and central Europe, and preparations for the Bonn CSCE conference. There will also be preliminary discussions on youth exchange schemes for Eastern Europe (TEMPUS) and the European training foundation. Ministers are expected to discuss proposals from the Commission on European Community policy on Japanese car imports, and the Commission's paper on future EC/Mediterrranean relations, as well as the Commission's avis on Turkey's application for EC membership. Ministers will also be asked to agree transitional measures to cover the period between the expiry of the Lome III convention and the implementation, after ratification, of Lome IV. Ministers will discuss preparations for the inter governmental conference on economic and monetary union.

The Economic and Finance Council will meet on 12 February to consider a medium term loan for Hungary. The Financial Regulation will be taken with an aim to reach agreement on a revision in March. The Council will also discuss the implementation of surveillance procedures during stage one of economic and monetary union.

The Agriculture Council will meet on 12 and 13 February to discuss the annual price fixing, bovine semen and brucellosis in sheep and goats. It may also discuss the proof of export relating to Annexe II documents, the monitoring of export refunds, bovine somatotrophin, African swine fever in Sardinia and food aid for Poland and Romania.

At the Internal Market Council on 22 February Ministers will discuss a number of measures relevant to the completion of the single market. Political agreement on the substance of the proposals for the three rights of residence directives was reached at the IMC meeting on 21 December. The question of the appropriate legal bases for the directives remains outstanding and is due to be discussed at the meeting on 22 February.

The Research Council will meet on 26 February. The agenda anticipates the adoption of two Research and Development programme proposals, human genome research and agricultural research, and the adoption of co-operation agreements withe EFTA countries on the SCIENCE (Stimulation of the cooperation and interchange of European scientists) and medical and public health research programmes. It is expected that common positions will be agreed on the EURET (Transport) and EUROTA (Machine translation) research programmes. The Research Council will also undertake the conciliation procedure with the European Parliament on the third framework programme for research and technological development, 1990–94 and may consequently be in a position to adopt the third framework programme.