Vol. 424 No. 9
166 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if it has been agreed in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade negotiations that all direct income aids and compensation measures agreed in the Common Agricultural Policy reform proposals in May, 1992, will be categorised under the green box and, therefore, be exempt from cutbacks.
The position is that discussions in recent days between the Commission, as the Community's negotiator, and the US to resolve outstanding differences on agriculture were not successful. The implications of this impasse for the overall GATT negotiations will be considered over the coming days.
The Community had insisted in these discussions that Common Agricultural Policy compensation payments should not be subject to reduction in a GATT outcome. While it appeared that there would be a satisfactory outcome on this point it was not possible to resolve differences on other aspects.
The safeguarding of the compensatory measures is a critical point for me and for the Community and will continue to be insisted upon when discussions resume again. It is, however, not the only outstanding issue on which we are looking for satisfaction.
