I am writing to confirm that, as forewarned in the above Explanatory Memorandum, submitted on 25 September, the Agriculture and Fisheries Council adopted this proposal at its meeting on 26 September. This followed the delivery of the European Parliament's opinion, under its urgency procedures, earlier that day. In something of a record for the Council the proposal was, therefore, adopted within two weeks of publication.

  You may wish to note that one small, but important, amendment was first made to the proposal, adding a recital referring to the need to grant an exception to the six-week period referred to in paragraph 1(3) of the Protocol on the role of national Parliaments in the European Union, annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaties establishing the European Communities.

  The Government recognised why, as set out in the Explanatory Memorandum, the Commission proposed this emergency measure and was prepared to support it on that basis. In the circumstances, we did not consider it appropriate to seek to delay this item at Council and, therefore, voted in favour of the proposal on 26 September.

  I very much regret that the proposal was adopted without prior scrutiny clearance. I am well aware that Parliamentary scrutiny is an essential part of our legislative process, and that overriding this process is a serious matter which I do not do lightly. But as you will note, all parties recognised that it was necessary to act quickly as farmers needed certainty so that they could make urgent plans for the 2008 harvest year.

9 October 2007

  Your Explanatory Memorandum on the above Proposal and your letter of 9 October were considered by Sub-Committee D at its meeting of 17 October 2007.

  We note the urgency with which this Proposal was treated by the European institutions and we therefore understand why scrutiny has in this instance been over-ridden.

  We acknowledge the amendment that was made to grant an exception to the six-week period for consultation of national parliaments.

  We support the Proposal and hope that set-aside can be permanently abolished as part of the CAP "Health Check". Set-aside is one of the issues that we are addressing during our ongoing Inquiry into the Future of the Common Agricultural Policy.

  We note in the EM that the Government is considering with statutory environment bodies and stakeholders whether any mitigating environmental requirements might need to be introduced in the short term. We would be grateful for information on the outcome of this consideration.

  We are content to release the Proposal from scrutiny.

17 October 2007