The Press TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1971. Mr Powell’s “veto”

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32783, 7 December 1971, Page 16

The Press TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1971. Mr Powell’s “veto”

Technically, Mr Enoch Powell is correct in his assertion that “after five years any single country in “ the Common Market can prevent any special “ arrangement from remaining in force ”; there is no guarantee that New Zealand will sell any butter at all in the enlarged European Economic Community after 1977. The critical passage in the Luxemburg Agreement provides for a re-examination, in 1975, of the butter situation “ in the light of . . . the trends “of supply and demand in the principal producing “ and consuming countries of the world, particularly “in the Community and New Zealand Clause Bof the “ special arrangement ” reads: In the light of this examination the Council [of Ministers of the E.E.C.], on a proposal by the Commission [of the EJE.CJ, will decide upon suitable measures for ensuring beyond December 31, 1977, the continuation of the derogation system for New Zealand and for determining the details of this system. The Treaty of Rome provides that decisions of the council on proposals put to it by the commission require a qualified majority; and on the weighting of votes agreed at Luxemburg at least two countries would have to oppose a commission proposal to defeat it But any member of the council who considers that his country’s “ vital interests ” are at stake can, in effect, exercise a veto, even if the proposal comes from the commission. The United Kingdom White Paper accepts this situation: “All “the countries concerned recognise that an attempt “ to impose a majority view in a base where one or "more members considered their vital interests to "be at stake would imperil the very fabric of the “ Community The situation envisaged by Mr Powell is most likely to arise in 1975, when the commission will propose to the council “ suitable measures ” for continuing beyond 1977 the special provisions in favour of New Zealand. If France, for instance, chose to declare that its “ vital interests ” were at stake in the United Kingdom market for butter, the other members of the council might find it difficult to insist on a majority vote. But this is, surely, a most unlikely situation, for France has never sold 136,000 tons of butter—New Zealand’s 1977 quota—on the United Kingdom market in a year; and it would surely provoke other members of the council to insist on various concessions from France affecting their “ vital interests

Neither France nor any other member of the E.E.C. is likely to make such an issue of the United Kingdom market for butter when the derogation system for New Zealand is discussed unless that market appears to be more profitable than any other available markets. In other words, if there were a glut of butter in 1975 and no likelihood of the glut’s disappearing before 1978, the French would want a larger share of the British market The commission, no doubt, would frame a proposal allowing France a greater share of the British market and the debate would be between New Zealand and the commission rather than between France and the council The occasion for the exercise of France’s “veto” is hardly likely to arise.

Mr Powell’s suggestion of “collusion” between Mr Heath and Sir Keith Holyoake to mislead the New Zealand people over the terms of the Luxemburg Agreement hardly warrants serious consideration. It implies that Mr Powell, through the application of superior knowledge, has found a flaw in the agreement which none of the New Zealand critics had found. Mr Kirk, who was critical enough of other aspects of the agreement, apparently overlooked it; and so did the Dairy Board, whose “ vital interests ” were most certainly at stake. The “veto” which is most likely to be exercised is not by France in the Council of Ministers but by Mr Powell in the House of Commons, when the empowering legislation to permit Britain’s accession is debated; and the only “ deliberate collusion ” may be between himself and the leaders of the Opposition.