Germany supports butter access —Minister

Press, 16 June 1983, Page 2

Germany supports butter access —Minister

NZPA staff correspondent Bonn

The Minister of Overseas Trade, Mr Cooper, believes there will be “no great difficulty” getting West Germany to agree to continued access for New Zealand butter to the E.E.C. at the present level of 87,000 tonnes.

After talks yesterday with Dr Martin Schmidt, the chairman of the German Parliamentary Agriculture Committee, Mr Cooper said, “The Federal Republic of Germany is very, very supportive of New Zealand.” Mr Cooper also had discussions with Mr Lothar Haase, the chairman of the Parliamentary Economics Committee, and Dr Werner Marx, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

The E.E.C. Commission is due to make proposals by August for the post-1983 butter quota. The voluntary restraint agreement, under which New Zealand agreed to limit its annual sheepmeat exports to 245,000 tonnes, is also due to be renewed later this year. Next to Britain, West Germany has been New Zealand’s strongest supporter in the E.E.C. debates on access.

Mr Cooper said the present levels of access were “the bottom of the barrel” and it would be “intolerable” for New Zealand to be pushed out. Mr Cooper hoped the commission would make its proposals before the summer recess.

He warned that it would be “very bad news” for New Zealand if the access issue got caught up in the debate over the E.E.C. budget. Everything he had heard indicated the commission would come up with a good proposal on butter. Mr Cooper said meeting the three chairmen had been useful groundwork because questions involving New Zealand could be discussed in their committees.