Agriculture Council, 17–19 March (Hansard, 20 March 1997)

Lord Lucas

My right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food represented the United Kingdom for part of the Agriculture Council in Brussels on 17–19 March and for the remainder of the period the UK was represented by my noble friend the Under-Secretary of State, Scottish Office, and officials.

The Council reached unanimous agreement on important proposals on cattle identification and beef labelling on a basis of Article 43 of the Treaty. The identification proposal requires the establishment of computerised systems for tracing cattle movements throughout their lives, improved cattle tagging, and a system of cattle passports similar to the one introduced in Great Britain last summer. Adoption of this proposal will facilitate the implementation of plans to develop a fully computerised database of cattle movements in Great Britain. The arrangements agreed on labelling provide for member states to decide whether or not to require the compulsory labelling of beef from the year 2000, and for the details of what information should be provided on labels under a compulsory system to be decided by the Council in the light of member states' experience between now and 1999. The labelling proposal as adopted met UK concerns to have a flexible, informative and less bureaucratic system than that originally put forward by the Commission, and this was secured in the final outcome.

The Council also agreed unanimously a proposal from the Commission determining measures and compensation relating to appreciable currency revaluations affecting farm incomes. The United Kingdom had strongly opposed the original proposal on the grounds that it discriminated against United Kingdom farmers faced with significant revaluations of the agricultural conversion rate for sterling. As a result, the proposal was substantially modified in the course of negotiation and the discriminatory elements removed on terms which fully met United Kingdom requirements.

On BSE, my noble friend reported to the Council on progress in the United Kingdom on fulfilling the terms of the Florence Agreement, and the recent submission to the Commission of a proposal for excluding meat from certified UK herds from the EU export ban. He urged 99WA the early submission of this proposal to the appropriate scientific committees, as provided for in the Florence Agreement.

The Council had a first discussion of the Commission's proposals on agricultural prices for 1997/98, which include a long-standing proposal to reduce arable aid and set-aside payments. The United Kingdom endorsed the Commission's intention to achieve budgetary savings, but regretted the absence of moves to reduce agricultural support prices generally, or of proposals for the early reform of sectors such as milk, beef and cereals.

In a third structured dialogue with the countries of central and eastern Europe, the Council considered with those countries how to assist in the implementation of the EU's veterinary and phytosanitary regulations. There was agreement on the need for a better exchange of information on EU policy and legislation in this area, and for help from the PHARE programme to establish the required control and inspection facilities.

The Council discussed, at the request of France, the need for changes in the operation of the early marketing scheme for veal and the calf processing scheme. It was agreed that the beef management committee would address these issues as a matter of urgency on 21 March, and would consider inter alia a possible reduction in the rate of calf processing premium in response to a long standing UK request.

The Council agreed some changes to the mandate of the European Commission in its negotiations with the USA on a veterinary equivalence agreement, and adopted by qualified majority (Spain, Portugal and Italy voting against) a proposal to open a malting barley quota for the USA in order to fulfil the EU's obligations under the World Trade Organisation.

The United Kingdom raised in the Council the need for an urgent report and proposals from the Commission on the welfare of battery hens, on which the Commissioner promised early action. The UK also backed a German request for the rapid submission to the Council of proposals on the transport of animals.