No ulterior motive in N.Z.’s backing U.K., says P.M.

Press, 21 May 1982, Page 3

No ulterior motive in N.Z.’s backing U.K., says P.M.

NZPA staff correspondent

London The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) has said that any suggestion that New Zealand has an ulterior motive in its strong backing for Britain in the Falklands crisis is totally unwarranted. He was speaking after having told Britain's Foreign Secretary. Mr Francis Pym. what assistance New Zealand was prepared to offer Britain. Mr Muldoon refused to say publicly what the offer was. Asked if his support for Britain was aimed at creating a climate in which Britain would feel that it owed New Zealand something in negotiations, he replied: “I think that question suggests that you fail to understand what the attitude of the New Zealand public, and certainly the Government party, is towards the Falklands issue. “The response of the Government party on this Falklands issue was related to the Falkland Islands. Just as simple as that.” When a reporter said that

it did not do New Zealand any harm in British eyes to be'seen to be backing Britain so publicly. Mr Muldoon replied: "Yes. But I would suggest that it does not do New Zealand any good for you to suggest that we have an ulterior motive. Your suggestion is totally unwarranted." Mr Muldoon met Britain's Agriculture Minister, Air Peter Walker, immediately after. Mr Walker had made a statement in the House' of Commons on the European Economic Community's decision on farm prices, which has caused a political storm in Britain. Of his talks with Mr Walker, Mr Muldoon said: “Nothing much comes out of this discussion." It was too early to say when a decision would be made on New Zealand’s butter quota for 1983. The quota is due to be set by October 1. There is speculation that the row over the. farm-price package, which was adopted by majority vote of the Community's Agriculture Minis-

ters over British objections, could delay a decision on the quota. New Zealand officials are concerned that if this happens, the matter could get caught up in later discussions on post-1983 access. New Zealand will depend on Britain to argue New Zealand’s case for continued access at acceptable levels. But, as Mr Muldoon said, “Britain, clearly, by that time is not going to be the most popular member of the Community.” He expressed dismay at the way the Community’s Ministers had over-ridden the British veto on the farmprice proposals. He said that if the Community moved away from the consensus decisions it had made up to now, Britain might be forced to withdraw from it. However, he said, Mr Walker believed that the principle of consensus was likely to be written in to the Community’s rules “in the long run. If there is a gain from the episode, it is that it. will not happen again.”