asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the circumstances under which the President of the Council of Ministers of the European Community may attend a meeting of the Council of Ministers of Agriculture.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - EEC Ministerial Meetings.
1.
As the Deputy will be aware, under the provisions of the Treaty Establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission of the European Communities done at Brussels on 8th April, 1965 there is only one Council of the European Communities. That council, however, may, and does, meet in different formations. Thus, for example, when the council meets to discuss such specialised matters as the Community's agricultural policy it is the practice for such council meetings to be attended by Ministers for Agriculture. Similarly when the council wishes to consider financial matters the council meetings are attended by Ministers for Finance. A particular council meeting may, indeed, also involve the simultaneous attendance of more than one Minister in each national delegation if the agenda is such as to require this.
While generally meetings of the council in its various formations take place at different times and on different days, there is, of course, nothing in either the treaties or in the provisional rules of procedure of the council which would prevent them taking place concurrently. Thus in the Council of the Communities it is, for example, possible to have Ministers for Agriculture considering agricultural matters, while at the same time Ministers for Foreign Affairs are simultaneously, but separately, discussing other Community matters either in the immediate vicinity or elsewhere. In such circumstances where the taking of a decision by the Foreign Ministers is dependent on the outcome of a prior decision by the Ministers for Agriculture it would be normal, indeed logical, for the Ministers for Foreign Affairs or one of their number chosen for the task, to attend the meeting of the Ministers for Agriculture so as to be informed of or to discuss with them the state of the deliberations of these latter on the matter in question. In reply to the Deputy's question, therefore, I would say that there are no hard-and-fast rules governing the circumstance for attendance such as the Deputy has referred to. Rather, such attendance is governed by practical considerations, by the need to ensure the good order and efficient and speedy functioning of the Community and by the necessity of ensuring at all times that there is cohesion in the work of the council in its different formations.
With regard to the recent occasion which appears to have given rise to the Deputy's question, I should, perhaps, add that following the direct contact thus established on 24th June between the council in its two formations, the matter in respect of which the council in its formation as Ministers for Foreign Affairs had unanimously requested me to attend the council in its formation as Ministers for Agriculture, namely a decision in respect of internal Community agricultural policy which was necessary as a precondition of further progress with the Community's overall Mediterranean approach, was satisfactorily settled later that day, thus clearing the way for a revised mandate for Community negotiations with the Maghreb countries and the full implementation of the EEC-Israel Agreement. This result was an important achievement of the Irish Presidency.
Did the Minister say in his final phrase that this was the result of the Irish presence?
No, the Irish Presidency.
I am sorry. Accepting what the Minister said in regard to the institution of the council which he so fully outlined, is he aware of the fact that, as reported, the reactions of two of the Agriculture Ministers were not favourable to the intervention of the Minister as President of the Council at the meeting of the Ministers for Agriculture? Would he like to comment on that?
Certainly. The reactions of three of the Ministers for Agriculture reflected an unfavourable view of the action of the Council of Foreign Ministers in regard to the initiation of Mediterranean policy. None of their remarks was directed towards my presence at the council, but these natural and spontaneous reactions did not prevent the council on mature reflection from taking the necessary action and enabling us, therefore, jointly to move ahead with the Mediterranean policy. The Deputy should not in cases like this be unduly misled by newspaper reports necessarily filed from Brussels before the conclusion of the events which they relate.
The Minister will appreciate that not being as close to events as he has been for some considerable time past, I must rely on newspaper reports. Could I ask the Minister if, in fact, any notice has been given to the Ministers for Agriculture in advance of the intention of the Minister as President to attend or was any request made by the Council of Foreign Ministers for the facility of attending and, if not, why not?
No. I think the Deputy misunderstands the close and informal relationship which exists between the council in its different formations. In fact, during the preliminary discussions at our meeting of Foreign Ministers, this question arose and all the members present requested that I should adjourn the meeting and go downstairs to a meeting of the Ministers for Agriculture and explain the importance we attached to a favourable concrete decision on this matter, so that the Ministers for Agriculture would understand the reasons for our concern about this matter. I naturally followed the instructions given to me unanimously by my council and attended the other meeting as rapidly as possible with a view to getting back to continue the meeting of our own council which stood adjourned during this, but this is normal informal procedure in cases like this.
Could I ask the Minister——
There are over 200 questions on the Order Paper and we cannot remain unduly long on any one question. The Chair is anxious to ensure that as many questions are answered as possible in the hour.
The Minister did not give any notice to the other council?
No. The instructions from my council were to adjourn the meeting and proceed to the Agriculture Council with a view to getting a speedy——
In courtesy and co-operation, it might have been prudent to have done that.
Oh, no. The Deputy does not understand the relations between the councils and any reports that any Minister criticised my intervention are factually incorrect, directed against the Ministers for Foreign Affairs for launching on policies the price of which, they said, had to be paid by them, showing, I thought, a certain misunderstanding of the nature of Cabinet responsibility, both domestically and collectively.