asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will outline his attitude to the EEC Commission proposals to (i) remove intervention for beef between April and August and (ii) alter the operation of intervention to provide greater uniformity throughout the Community.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - EEC Beef Intervention Proposals.
38.
At the meeting of the council of Ministers of Agriculture on 6 and 7 May I made clear my opposition to the Commission's proposal to suspend intervention buying of beef. Discussion on the matter will be resumed at the next meeting of the Council on 28 and 29 May.
The Commission's proposal to establish a common classification system for beef carcases should lead to a more uniform application of intervention measures throughout the Community. There is general agreement in the Council to the introduction of this system for the 1981-1982 marketing year and meanwhile technical discussions on the application of the proposal will proceed.
Was there any agreement at the meeting yesterday to any change in the position so far as the two proposals are concerned, and can the Minister state if the proposed common classification will lead to an alteration in the classification scheme which is being introduced here?
There has not been agreement on either point raised in the question. There was acceptance by eight of the nine delegations present—we being the exception—to a suspension of intervention from 2 June to 15 August. The period has now been shortened from the original proposal. There was not agreement on that and it will be discussed again.
Will the Minister state whether the proposed new common classification scheme will require any change in the classification scheme which has been introduced in this country?
As I have said in my reply, the technical details have not been worked out as yet. Of course our concern is to ensure that the type of cattle we have will not receive lower intervention prices because of their expected low position in the classification grid, but the technical details still have to be gone into. In principle the Council has accepted that this grid would operate for the 1981-1982 marketing year but the details of it have not as yet been concluded.
Might I ask the Minister if the details of the proposed Community grid are available publicly from any source?
There can be details available but the discussions are on-going so I am not in a position to say at present what will be the outcome of those discussions.
Are they available?
I do not know. I did not see them anyway.
The Minister has not seen them and yet he is discussing them.
The technical details have to be discussed.
The Minister has not seen the proposed grid yet he is discussing it.
The principle of the common classification grid was accepted. I personally have not seen it.