asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if there are serious implications for this country in the deadlock which has now been reached in negotiations between the EEC and 44 African, Caribbean and Pacific island states concerning the key issues of access for agricultural products and arrangements for trade in raw materials; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna-Questions. Oral Answers. - EEC Access Negotiations.
27.
Negotiations under Protocol 22 of the Accession Treaty concerning relations between the European Economic Community and its member States on the one hand and the Associated African and Malagasy States and the independent Commonwealth countries in Africa, the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the Caribbean on the other, were formally inaugurated by the conference in Brussels on 25th and 26th July, 1973. Substantive negotiations commenced in Brussels in the autumn and are continuing.
It is not true to say that deadlock has been reached. The position is that while considerable progress has been made in a number of areas, the community had difficulty in adopting final negotiating positions on some issues which are of a vital concern to the negotiating partners, and this led to expressions of dissatisfaction by them which have been reported in the Press. The outstanding issues have included those of access for some agricultural products and the stabilisation of export earnings or some other means to safeguard the interests of those negotiating partners whose economies depend to a considerable extent on the export of primary products. The community's offer for the outstanding agricultural product was, however, finalised at the Council of Ministers meeting in Luxembourg the day before yesterday, 4th June, and the way is now open to discuss this offer with the negotiating partners. The effect of the community's proposals would be to accord the partner States a special regime, on a product by product basis, more favourable than the general regime applied to third countries with the necessary safeguards to protect community interests. With regard to the stabilisation issue, this is, of course, a very complex and technical problem but it is one of great importance to some of the negotiating States and particularly to the poorer among them. The commission is shortly to complete its proposals as to community action in this field and I would hope that the council will subsequently be in a position to take an early decision on the proposals to be made in the negotiations which may resume at ministerial level before the end of next month.