Agriculture Council, 16–17 February (Hansard, 23 February 1998)

§ Lord Donoughue

My right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food chaired the second meeting under the United Kingdom Presidency of the European Union Council of Agriculture Ministers on 16–17 February in Brussels. I represented the United Kingdom at that meeting.

The Council had a presentation by the Agriculture Commissioner of the Commission's proposals for prices fixed under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the 1998/1999 year. These proposals were described by the Commissioner as broadly a standstill in present CAP support arrangements, pending the forthcoming negotiations on further reform of the CAP in the context of Agenda 2000. Ministerial colleagues in the Council commented on their key priorities within this set of proposals. My right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food agreed to take them forward as quickly as possible; that work will begin immediately.

The Council also held a first debate on the Commission's proposals for reform of the tobacco regime, which also form an element of the Agenda 2000 strategy. On behalf of the United Kingdom, and with support from Sweden and Denmark, I expressed concern at the relatively modest nature of these reform proposals and urged more radical steps to reduce support for tobacco production in the Community, bearing in mind the inconsistency with EU efforts to limit tobacco consumption for health reasons. Detailed work on this proposal will now begin.

The Council held a second full debate on proposed amendments to the EU banana regime in response to the recent findings of the WTO Appellate Body. My right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food concluded in the light of the debate that further detailed work should continue, and that the Council should resolve this issue quickly, both in order to meet WTO obligations and to give reassurance to EU and ACP banana growers about their futures.

There was a further discussion in the Council of the Commission's proposals in respect of the Community's beef promotion scheme. Final agreement did not prove possible in view of the requirement to achieve unanimity on this proposal. My right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food undertook as Council President to consider the options for taking this proposal forward.

The Commissioner gave the Council a full report on the exchanges he had had with the United States on the negotiation of an EU/US veterinary and phytosanitary equivalence agreement. The Council noted that there had been positive developments in recent contacts between the two sides, and expressed the hope that the terms of an agreement would be ready for endorsement by the Council at its March meeting.

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I expressed the concerns of the United Kingdom at the recent interruption to supplies of fish from Russian freezer vessels into the UK, in particular Scotland, and the risk this created to jobs in fish processing. The Commissioner undertook to carry out an urgent examination of the problem.

Finally, the Council discussed the forthcoming OECD Agriculture Ministerial meeting in Paris in March, where consideration would be given to progress on agricultural reform over the last decade. Ministers in the Council debated the line which the European Union would take at this meeting. My right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food concluded that there should be co-ordination of the EU line in a High Level Group which will convene in Brussels next week for this purpose.