Agriculture Council, 22–23 July (Hansard, 25 July 1997)

§ Lord Donoughue

My right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food represented 189WA the United Kingdom at the meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers held in Brussels on July 22. He was accompanied at the meeting by the Lord Dubs, Under-Secretary of State in the Northern Ireland Office.

The principal business of this Council was to consider the Commission's proposal introducing, as a measure to protect public health, an EU-wide prohibition on the use of specified risk materials from cattle, sheep or goats. The Council was called upon to consider this proposal since it had failed to secure a qualified majority at the Standing Veterinary Committee held on 16 July. Following prolonged negotiations in the Council, the Luxembourg Presidency was able to establish that a simple majority of member states supported the Commission's proposal: those member states were Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, Ireland, France and the United Kingdom. The way is now open for the Commission to act on its own competence and give effect to this measure, which will come into force on 1 January 1998. We very much welcome the fact that a majority of member states was able to support a measure which will bring the EU broadly into line with UK practice in respect of the removal of specified risk materials from bovine carcasses, and extend that practice also to sheep and goats.

The Commissioner gave a full report to the Council on the recent discovery of illegal exports of beef from the United Kingdom to other EU member states. My right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food emphasised to the Council the importance which the United Kingdom attaches to the prevention of fraud and to maintaining strict controls within slaughterhouses and meat plants.

The Agriculture Council also heard Commissioner Fischler give a full account of the recently published approach to further reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in the framework of the Commission's Agenda 2000 proposals. The Commissioner emphasised the importance of proceeding urgently with changes to the arable, dairy and beef sectors in particular, as well as certain Mediterranean products, in order to prepare the EU for the next round of WTO agricultural negotiations and to facilitate the enlargement of the EU. My right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food welcomed the Commission's initiative and urged the Council to engage in detailed discussions as quickly as possible. The Council will revert to this important subject in the early autumn.

The Council also had reports from the Commission on progress in the veterinary equivalence negotiations with the United States and with the Czech Republic; and from the Presidency on progress in attaching animal welfare conditions to the payment of beef export

Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee
	Commercial interests	Non-commercial interests
Member	Name of organisation	Nature of interests	Name of organisation	Nature of interests
Professor J. R. Patlison (Chairman)	None	None	Medical Research Council	Senior Medical Adviser to the Chief Executive
Dr. R. G. Will (Deputy Chairman)	None	None	Department of Health	Grant Holder
			Scottish Home and Health Department	Grant Holder

190WA

refunds, a proposal which my right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food welcomed. The Council adopted by qualified majority a proposal setting rates of aid for hops producers for a five-year period, the United Kingdom voting against the proposal on the grounds that the aid rate of 480 ecu per hectare was unnecessarily high.