E.E.C. TERMS Pressure by N.Z. before U.K. poll

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33777, 25 February 1975, Page 3

E.E.C. TERMS Pressure by N.Z. before U.K. poll

(From CHARLES COOPER, London correspondent for "The Press.")

BUCHAREST, February 24. New Zealand intends to apply pressure for the greater part of her new Common Market dairy-access arrangements to be completed before the referendum on Britain’s future in Europe.

The Prime Minister (Mr Rowling) wants to be able to say publicly, before the British vote, whether he thinks that New Zealand has a fair deal.

This emerged yesterday, when Mr Rowling defined his latest thinking on a timetable for real progress. The E.E.C. summit in Dublin next month leaves too little time for finality, but New Zealand expects the British initiative on new terms of membership to produce “a positive” statement of principle” for her, including acceptance of future guaranteed access; quantities expressed in milk equivalents, to keep cheese going after 1977; the elimination of the volume-reducing “degression” clause; and a new price base with annual reviews. Wilson sensitive The British Prime Minister (Mr Wilson) will not be insensitive to the implications of New Zealand’s speaking her mind in advance of

I the referendum: a contented! ■New Zealand would be aboost for a pro-Market vote.! which Mr Wilson dearly desires; the reverse could be severely damaging. Antimarketeers would exploit eagerly any New Zealand dissatisfaction in the interests of their campaign to reject Europe. Mr Rowling said yesterday that the E.E.C. Ministers he' had met were aware that New Zealand would “coiiiment” on her treatment before the British vote. Because Europe wants Britain to remain in the Community, it is likely that Mr Wilson may have the odd word of advice about New Zealand from the Continent. Mr Rowling flew into Bucharest, Rumania, last night after handing over his butter-and-cheese mission to the Minister of Overseas Trade (Mr Walding) in Paris. Mr Walding will visit Brussels. Rome, Copenhagen, The Hague and, possibly, Luxemburg, before going on to London, where he will

I meet Mr Rowling again at the ! end of the week. Mr Rowling is in Bucharest for talks on trade and international discussions. His first engagement was to place a wreath at the foot of the towering marble Memorial to the Heroes of the Struggle for Freedom of the People and Homeland for Socialism on a hill commanding a view of the city. Watched by only a few hundred citizens in the cold dusk, Mr Rowling was accorded military honours before laying the huge teardrop-shaped wreath of scarlet carnations carrying the words: “From the Prime Minister of New Zealand.” London comment N.Z.P.A.-Reuter reports from London that the problem of New Zealand’s claim for improved terms of access to the British market for her dairy products appears much less difficult in the light of Mr Rowling’s European tour, according to the “Financial Times.”

The newspaper says that this is partly because the New Zealand Prime Minister has committed himself firmly to the view that Britain should remain in the E.E.C., but more because he received a favourable reception in Paris and Bonn.

“The problem of New Zealand has not yet been solved, but if the French Government regards the problem as soluble, then there is every prospect that a solution will be found,” the “Financial Times” says. “It seems plausible to suppose that the main reason for the French Government’s unexpectedlyhelpful attitude towards Mr Rowling is that Paris is anxious to ensure that the whole of the renegotiation package can reasonably be accepted by the British Government and presented as a success to the electorate in the referendum.”