§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the outcome of the Brussels Agriculture Council held on 22 and 23 January.
§ Mr. GummerI represented the United Kingdom at this meeting together with my hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon (Mr. Curry), Parliamentary Secretary in this Department.
The Council had a first exchange of views on the Commission's proposals for 1990 farm prices. I emphasised the need for a settlement to redress the unfair burden which the green pound gap lays on the British farmer and to complete the dismantling by 1992 at the latest; to continue and consolidate the process of CAP 766W reform and to take full account of the stabilisers fixed for certain products; to respect budgetary guidelines; to be consistent with the Community's GATT commitments; and urged that greater scope for market forces should be introduced into the CAP, including providing for a reduction in the degree of external protection. Like several other Ministers, I questioned the need for the new non-price support measures proposed by the Commission. The Council will next consider the proposals in more detail at its meeting in February.
On bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), the Council considered a Commission proposal, which would have the effect of banning most United Kingdom exports of live cattle over six months old to other member states. 1 opposed on the ground that the scientific evidence showed clearly that such restrictions were unnecessary. No decision was reached, but the rules allow the Commission to adopt the proposal as it stands, which it is now expected to do with effect from 1 March. Of some 266,000 live cattle exported from the United Kingdom in 1988, 249,000 (94 per cent.) would still have been able to be exported had the present proposal then been in force. The most important effect of such a ban is likely to be on exports of breeding animals. However, the Commissioner confirmed that authoritative veterinary advice made it clear that there were no grounds for suspecting that beef produced in the United Kingdom posed any risk to public health. He stated that all member states should now act in accordance with this fact and that any measures interfering with trade in beef would be contrary to Community law. The German authorities will now be reflecting on this statement and I hope that they will soon remove their unjustified measures, which are hampering trade.
I urged the Commissioner to bring forward proposals for Community measures to deal with salmonella infection in poultry, so that all eggs produced in the Community can reach the same high health status as those produced in the United Kingdom. He stated that he would produce wide-ranging proposals as soon as possible.
The Council agreed a tranche of emergency food aid for Romania and agreed in principle that further tranches both to Romania and to Poland should be made when the necessary legal formalities have been completed.