EMBARGO: 5: 00 pm
FOR MEDIA SUNDAY 7 MARCH, 1982
ELECTORATE TALK
Australia has long been concerned at the almost total exclusion
of our farm products from European markets markets which
were once ma-ior ones for our produce. We are equally disturbed
by the fact that European countries have also been exporting
increasing volumes of heavily subsidised agricultural produce
to third markets, in many cases markets which Australian
exporters have fought hard to build up after their virtual
exclusion from Europe.
Obviously, these concerns were among the issues that we
discussed with the current President of the European Communities,
His Excellency, Mr. Gaston Thorn, during his recent visit to
Australia. It is a matter of regret to Australia that we
should have aL continuing dispute with the European Community
over trading miatters, for in many ways, in many fields, we
have relation~ ships that are substantial and important. Of
course, this is not suprising. Australia and the European
Communities have a shared history and shared cultural values,
and we share a commitment to democracy as partners in the
Western alliance.
In the past year a delegation of the European Parliament
visited Australia; Australia signed an important nuclear
safeguards acreement with EURATOM ( that is the European
Community's A~ tomic Energy Commission); and Australia and
the European Community have held talks at ministerial level
twice, in Brussels last December, and here in Canberra last
week. Moreover, * one of the main duties which President
Thorn performed during his visit was to open officially the
Canberra offices of the Commission's delegation to Australia.
Australia is one of the very few countries outside Europe
where the Commission has established an office responsible
for relations with a single country, and its establishment
must surely contribute to better understanding and more
constructive relationships between Australia and Europe.
President Thorn and I spoke about the international political
situation as well as about economic matters. We discussed
Afghanistan and Poland and the important processes of consultation
among the Western allies following those events. We agreed
that in the present international situation,-the unity of
the Western alliance is more important than ever, and we
agreed that this means that special efforts need to be madeto
avoid disputes among Western-countries in all fields, and
to solve them if they arise. / 2
2
Trade disputes in particular can place additional and unnecessary
strains on Western unity. In this regard there has been a recent
dispute in relation to Australia's import policies on footwear and
motor vehicles. The European Community has raised the matter with
the GATT in Geneva. However, during President Thorn's visit it was
agreed that any action on this should be deferred pending further
study and consultations between the two sides. Despite our broad
agreement on a wide range of issues, the fact remains that the
European Community's policies with respect to agricultural products
have cost our. farmers many hundreds of millions of dollars annually
in lost export earnings. Indeed, the Bureau of Agricultural Economics
has estimated that in respect of sugar alone, the trading, policies of
the European Communities have cost Australia $ 130 million annually in.
lost export earnings during the past decade. These losses are a
direct consequence of the Community's common agricultural policy
which provides assistance and protection to agricultural producers in
Europe. It has been estimated that assistance to those producers from
the European Community and from national governments, amounts to some
billion annually, and imposes a huge burden on individuals in
Europe in the form of higher taxes, and higher food prices.
The common agricultural policy pursued by the European Community
involves setting very high domestic prices for the full range of
temperate agricultural products, and applying variable levies which
effectively prohibit imports except in rare cases where there are
shortfalls in domestic production. Not surprisingly, thes; ce policies
have led to surplus production of many agricultural products by
Europe's farmers, which are then exported, with the farmers receiving
further subsidies on these sales in the form of so-called export
refunds. Sc, not only are our farmers' products effectively excluded
from Europea-markets, they also face competition on unfair terms in
other parts c~ the world market from European farmers who are being
subsidised for exporting.
I was very pleased that President Thorn assured me during our discussions
of his own personal commitment to the goal of ending the subsidisation
of European farm exports to international markets, and, generally, of
reforming the common agricultural policy to put firm upper limits on
overall European farm production. On the other hand; the President
also emphasised that the economic situation in Europe at present is
Srather bleak, with 10 millions unemployed and the likelihood that
this will rise to 11 or even 12 millions by later this year, levels
which could place considerable strains on political stability in
several European countries. He stressed that these circumstances
mean that there are limited possibilities at present for the ten
sovereign European Governments to implement significant early structural
changes in industry or agriculture.
We understand Europe's problems. We are not asking the European
Commission to force farmers out of farming. But we do ask that
policies of excessive protection and assistance be reformed, and that
change is not indefinitely deferred. Most importantly we ask that
the consequences of those policies are not exported outside Europe,
undermining the returns to efficient agricultural exporters in markets
around the world. I am pleased that the European Commission has now
at its helm a man committed to work towards reforms in these areas.
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