Mr Marshall optimistic

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32461, 23 November 1970, Page 1

Mr Marshall optimistic

(From

GARRY ARTHUR,

!> London correspondent of the "The Press.,)

LONDON, November 22.

Cheerful optimism and confidence in the bargaining process seem to be the reaction of the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Marshall) to the rebuff implicit in the E.E.C. Commission’s proposal for dealing with the New Zealand dairy trade in the event of British entry into the Common Market

Mr Marshall said on his return to London yesterday that he did not believe that the commission’s proposal for a diminishing market for New Zealand dairy products during a fiveyear British transitional period would be accepted.

“It is just a negotiating position,” he said. "I would have preferred them.to accept the British proposal, but it is their openng negotiating position, and it should be seen in that light. In any case, until it is considered by the council of Ministers it is not the E.E.C.’s official position.”

The Council of Ministers met in' Brussels today, and Mr Marshall was there, hoping to talk to the council’s chairman (Mr Walter Scheel) during an interval of the meeting. He will also talk to members of the commission

hich drew up the document. Mr Marshall said yesterday ; was not prepared to

admit that any arrangement made between the E.E.C. and Britain about the New Zealand question would fall short of the "continued

. volume of trade, subject to I review," sought for New Zealand, by Britain. He said he would use the utmost presi sure to ensure that the solui tion proposed by Britain ' was achieved. I Not dismayed Nor was he dismayed by i the remark attributed to Mr Geoffrey Rippon, the chief British negotiator, that the effect of British entry on New Zealand was not strictly Britain’s problem.

"The point he is making,’* said Mr Marshall, “is that

when Britain is in the E.E.C. there will be one market and New Zealand produce will be a community responsibility. But we have macle it clear, and Britain accepts it, that they are negotiating for a special arrangement for us. "I am sure that Mr Rippon accepts full responsibility for a special arrangement for New Zealand. I don’t think he is stepping back from the undertakings he has given us.” Mr Marshall said his discussions in the four European capitals had been valuable in creating a clearer understanding and a better attitude on the part of the European ministers towards New Zealand’s problems. “It is clear beyond any doubt now,” he said, "that they will agree to a special arrangement for New Zealand. We are now concerned as to the form that the agreement will take. U.K. position “Tlfe British Government has made it clear that it will seek continuity of the volume of our trade in butter, cheese and lamb, and it has put forward a specific proposal for butter and cheese, or the milk equivalent. “It would have been too much to expect the commission of the Council of Ministers to have accepted the British proposal without making counter - proposals, which would then be the subject of negotiation. Thia is what is now happening. “The prospects of reaching a satisfactory settlement—l would hope somewhere near the British proposals—have been improved by- the trends in milk production in the Common Market and in the applicant countries. “Until this change took place surpluses were building up, and it would have been extremely difficult to obtain from the Community a settlement which would have preserved our volume of trade in butter and cheese when at the same time the Community was producing surpluses.” All informed All of the Ministers of Agriculture to whom he had spoken, and all other ministers who were informed on the topic, agreed that surpluses of dairy products were declining and that present production trends indicated this would continue. "There are varying degrees of caution expressed,” he added, “as to whether the trend is a permanent one. The French Minister of Agriculture (Mr Duhamel) for example, said that while this trend was apparent, the future depended ’oh God and the sun.’ “It is also made somewhat uncertain by the inability at present to assess the trend of consumption of butter in Britain when the prices rise from the present 3s 6d a pound to a Community price of about 9s 6d a pound. If consumption dropped seriously it would be a further complication for New Zealand.”