Tough talking likely over butter deal
NZPA staff correspondent Brussels European Economic Community Farm Ministers will tackle New Zealand butter again today, with Ireland’s Mr Austin Deasy under pressure to stop being the “odd man out.” New Zealand’s Minister of Overseas Trade, Mr Cooper, ended a 10-day visit to E.E.C. capitals at the weekend with assurances from nine of the 10 members that they continue to support E.E.C. Commission proposals for a five-year deal on butter access.
However, Ireland’s Minister, Mr Deasy, is sticking to his position that New Zealand quotas should be fixed annually. He wants to use New Zealand as a lever in future E.E.C. negotiations over the amount of extra milk Irish farmers can produce without being hit by the super levy.
Mr Cooper has been arguing that a five-year access agreement, with quantities set for only one year at a time, is really no more than a one-year arrangement. It had been widely accepted that once Ireland got satisfactory guarantees of favourable treatment under
the E.E.C. super levy proposals it would stop blocking a deal on New Zealand access.
However, Mr Deasy is under pressure from his farmers to take a tough line and has refused to budge. The French Agriculture Minister, Mr Michel Rocard, who is chairing today’s meeting, will play a key role in trying to persuade Mr Deasy to end his isolation.
The French want a fiveyear agreement on sensitive markets for sheepmeat, but New Zealand has said it will not sign this unless it gets satisfactory arrangements on butter. If Ireland continues to hold out, Mr Deasy may ask New Zealand to accept a shorter extension of the sensitive markets agreement, which expired on March 31, until longer-term access for butter is worked out. New Zealand is not sending any lamb to France. Under the proposed fiveyear agreement on sensitive markets, New Zealand would be able to sell 3500 tonnes to France this year, with the quantity increasing 10 per cent a year until 1990.
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Press, 7 May 1984, Page 1
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333Tough talking likely over butter deal Press, 7 May 1984, Page 1
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