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(17986)
6734/97
COM(97)114
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Draft Instrument concerning a proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion of the Agreements in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Community and, on the one hand, Barbados, Belize, the Republic of the Congo, Fiji, the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, the Republic of the Ivory Coast, Jamaica, the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Madagascar, the Republic of Malawi, the Republic of Mauritius, the Republic of Suriname, St Christopher and Nevis, the Kingdom of Swaziland, the United Republic of Uganda, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the Republic of Uganda, the Republic of Zambia, and the Republic of Zimbabwe and, on the other hand, the Republic of India on the guaranteed prices for cane sugar for the 1996-97 delivery period (adopted).
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Document originated:
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21 March 1997
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Original language:
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French
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Forwarded to the Council:
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24 March 1997
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Circulated by the Council in the original language:
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2 April 1997
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Circulated by the Council in English:
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3 April 1997
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Deposited in Parliament:
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7 May 1997
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Department:
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Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
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Basis of consideration:
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Explanatory Memorandum of 7 April 1997
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Previous consideration:
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None
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Committee's assessment:
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Politically important
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Committee's decision:
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Cleared
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Background
64.1 The document, which
was adopted at the Agriculture Council on 21 April, sets out the
prices applicable to cane sugar from ACP[168]/India
producers for 1996-97. Under the Sugar Protocol of the Lomé
Convention the ACP producers listed have a right of access to
Community markets for about 1.3 million tonnes of cane sugar each
year, tariff-free and at guaranteed prices. A parallel agreement
between the Community and India guarantees access for 10,000 tonnes.
The current proposal
64.2 As in previous years,
the price negotiated is set at the level equivalent to the Community's
intervention prices. Figures agreed are as follows:
raw sugar: 52.37
ECU/100 kg (£38.88/100 kg)[169].
white sugar: 64.65
ECU/100 kg (£47.99/100 kg)2.
64.3 These are in fact
equivalent to the 1995-96 Community intervention prices in ECU
terms because the 1996-97 Community intervention price has been
frozen at the same level as the previous year.
The Government's view
64.4 The previous Minister
of Agriculture (Mr Hogg) stated in his Explanatory Memorandum
of 7 April:
"The Government
fully supports the Community's obligations to the ACP states and
India. Indeed, about 85% of the sugar imported by the Community
under these preferential arrangements is refined into white sugar
in the United Kingdom. These imports are essential for the UK
refining sector which accounts for about half of UK consumption
needs. The outcome of the negotiations is in accordance with
the provisions of the Lomé sugar protocol. This proposal
would provide the ACP States and India with a guaranteed market
at prices around twice that obtainable on the world market."
64.5 The Parliamentary
Secretary (Lords), Lord Donoughue, wrote on 15 May to say that
the measure was adopted at the Agriculture Council on 21-22 April.
He said that delaying its adoption would have undermined the
operation of the Sugar Protocol and would have been against the
interests of the UK refining sector.
Conclusion
64.6 We endorse the
view taken by the previous Committee that the annual negotiations
with the ACP states and with India raise questions of political
importance. Our predecessors thought that these arrangements
would be relevant to any debate covering preferential tariff treatment
for the products of the Third World. We make no such formal recommendation,
but we will keep such a possibility under review.
168 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. Back
169 At
a green rate conversion of 1 ECU = £0.74232. Back
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