New lamb-sale twist in Irish-French deal

Press, 28 December 1977, Page 19

New lamb-sale twist in Irish-French deal

London correspondent | A “gentlemen's agreement” between France and Ireland on the entry of Irish; lamb carcases into France; may reduce the pressure for! establishing a European : Sheep Meat. Policy. New Zealand, anticipating! that such a policy might; well place restrictions on! the amount of lamb sold in Britain, -would welcome any i such easing of pressure. “But the key to the whole; question is the British Gov-; ernment’s attitude to its own; producers,’’ said a! spokesman for the New Zea-( land Meat Board in London,' Mr G. Harrison. “If the British Govern-: ment, for example, decided it wanted access to France; for its own producers, there; would be pressure for some sort of arrangement for, supplies from third countries — and that might be bad news for New Zealand.” The French-Irish arrangement, announced last week, will permit the entry of: Irish lamb into France from. January I. free of duty, provided it meets certain weight and quality standards | Mr Harrison estimated; that the restrictions would mean Ireland would send 1

[ only about 3000 tonnes a ;year to France. [ “This will certainly take [off some of the pressure for : a European Sheep Policy, land indeed some would I argue that there may no ; [longer be any need for one,”! he said. The unpleasant aspect of ; the arrangement was that, once again, New Zealand ! had been made the whipping boy. After critical comment [from the National Farmers ; Union in Britain, the deputy of the Irish Farm-; [ing Association (Mr J. Rea) I said the British union should [ “Keep its nose out of our [business.” British farmers had no i basis for objecting to the Ideal when it was remembered that Britain imported ,200,000 tonnes of cheap New Zealand frozen lamb annually, he said. -i “The arrangement — there is no written agreement — certainly puts the British Government in an inter- ‘ esting position,” said Mr Harrison. “It will now have to decide which way it wants to go.” Lamb costs almost three times as much in France as jin Britain, and British farm-; i ers are anxious to cash in on these premium prices. There will thus be mouat-

9 ing pressure on the British |to push for access for Brit-. ;‘ish lamb. r! Mr Harrison said New; /Zealand was not very'inter-; bested in the French market, i [because the French tended ’lto dislike frozen food. Ger- ! many could provide a much; f more lucrative market for; ~New Zealand lamb. 1; However, if large quan-[ i titles of British lamb were, diverted from the home marLket to France, New Zealand ’[might be able to help fill the /[vacuum. ' Both the British Minister “of Agriculture (Mr Silkin) ‘ and the president of the r National Farmers’ Union (Sir Henry Plumb) reacted 3 strongly to news of the deal 5 between France and Ireland. j Mr Silkin said he had alj ready made it clear that he was’totally opposed to any ’! bilateral agreement which /would discriminate againstBritain. Neither the French r.nor the. Irish Governments [had consulted Britain, he! . said. > Sir Henry said that this t “discriminatory action” ; against British lamb produc?iers was “perhaps the most, s blatant refusal by individual - member countries to abide i!by the Treaty of Rome since [the creation of the Common -(Market.”