France will create problems—claim

Press, 17 May 1986, Page 3

France will create problems —claim

PA Wellington The chairman of the Dairy Board, Mr Jim Graham, is convinced France will create problems for New Zealand in terms of butter access to Europe. He said yesterday that he had told the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, this but offered no suggestions on what should be done. U I simply handed on the problems we saw in France in terms of access,” Mr Graham said. He recently returned from a trip to Europe where he had the board’s general manager, Mr Murray Gough, begin negotiations to get rid of

the huge butter surplus. Before leaving on the trip, Mr Graham was reported as saying he feared the new French Government would veto New Zealand’s butter access to the European Community in retaliation over the Rainbow Warrior bombing affair. He said yesterday he was convinced France would create difficulties. While the Rainbow Warrior affair might not be given as the reason, it would be the underlying one. Meanwhile, work was continuing on the proposal to turn the European Community butter surplus, including a predicted 85,600 tonnes from

New Zealand, into butter oil. On his return from Europe, Mr Graham said the butter oil proposal was to be put first to the European Commission and then to the European Agriculture Ministers. The Dairy Board had also commissioned a report on alternatives to the floating of the dollar, he said. This would be discussed next week with other producer boards and Federated Farmers to see if there was agreement on a new appproach. It would then be discussed with other exporting manufacturers before being taken to the Government.