HC Deb 01 February 1991 vol 184 cc691-2W
Mr. Moss

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish in theOfficial Report a statement of forthcoming business in the European Community Council of Ministers.

Mr. Garel-Jones

The Foreign Affairs Council will meet on 4 and 5 February. Ministers will discuss the situation in the Soviet Union and the consequences of events in the Baltic states for the EC's aid proposals. They will also discuss food aid for Romania and Bulgaria and the extension of European Investment bank lending to Czechoslovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. The Council may review progress towards the resumption of negotiations on GATT, and will consider EC/United States trade in aircraft. Political co-operation issues will also be discussed. The ministerial meeting of the intergovernmental Conference on political union on 4 February will consider progress made by Ministers' personal representatives.

The Agriculture Council will meet on 4 and 5 February and will discuss the development of the common agriculture policy, the agriculture aspect of the GATT Uruguay round and EC quality standards for fresh and frozen sheep carcases.

The Economic and Finance Council will meet on 25 February to consider financial assistance to central and eastern Europe and aid to the USSR. The abolition of fiscal frontiers appears on the agenda but no substantive discussion is expected. The ministerial meeting of the inter-governmental conference on economic and monetary union on 25 February will hold a general discussion on progress made to date by Ministers' personal representatives.