HL Deb 05 November 1991 vol 532 cc4-5WA
Lord Trefgarne

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the outcome of the Foreign Affairs Council on 21st October.

The Earl of Caithness

The Foreign Affairs Council met in Luxembourg on 21st October to pursue negotiations on the European Economic Area (EEA). The EEA is intended to extend the Single Market to the seven countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) from 1st January 1993.

The Minister for Trade, the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and the Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food represented the UK. Representatives of the EFTA countries were in Luxembourg. The two sides reached political agreement on all the key outstanding issues in the negotiations.

On fish, the two sides agreed that under the EEA the EFTA countries will remove all tariffs on imports from the EC of fish species and products. The Community will reduce or remove tariffs on imports from EFTA of most species and products. Full tariffs will remain on certain sensitive species such as salmon, mackerel and herring. The EFTA countries have also undertaken to adapt their national legislation to avoid distortion of competition in the fisheries sector.

Norway will guarantee the EC's share at North Norway of the total allowable catch for North East Arctic cod and increase it from its present level of 2.14% to 2.9%. This will continue to be allocated within the Community in accordance with the present arrangements. The UK will thus receive around two-thirds of this allocation. Norway will also make available to the Community a separate fixed quantity of North Norway cod: 6,000 tonnes in 1993, rising to 11,000 tonnes in 1997. The UK will not benefit from this. Iceland will make available to the Community a quantity of redfish or redfish equivalent as an exchange of fishing opportunities. The allocation of this within the Community will be decided later, though we have made clear that our historic rights in the area should be taken into account. The arrangements for allocation within the Community of fish obtained under the EEA will not prejudice the principle of relative stability or the 1992 review of the Common Fisheries Policy.

The two sides reached agreement on the Cohesion Fund, through which EFTA will give financial support to less favoured regions of the Community. The fund will comprise 500 mecu in grants and 1.5 becu in soft loans. Northern Ireland will be eligible. The other recipients will be Spain, Portugal, Greece and the Republic of Ireland.

The Community also reached agreement in principle with Austria and Switzerland in the negotiations on alpine transit. There will be a limited increase in the numbers of Community trucks permitted to pass through the two countries, in exchange for measures to reduce pollution and encourage the use of alternative means of transport.

The two sides will now aim to complete work rapidly on the text of the draft EEA agreement, with a view to signature later this year. A statement will be made to the House prior to signature.

This meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council has thus cleared the way for the conclusion of the EEA agreement. We warmly welcome this. The EEA will create the largest single market in the world and facilitate membership of the Community for those EFTA countries who wish to join. We believe that the EEA will be good for the United Kingdom, good for the Community, and good for the wider Europe.