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Agriculture and Fisheries Council

I and my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State, the Minister for Marine, Landscape and Rural Affairs (Jonathan Shaw), will be representing the United Kingdom at this month's Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels. The Scottish Minister for Rural Affairs, Richard Lochhead, will also be attending. There are a number of items for discussion on this month's agenda relating to agriculture, covering the common agricultural policy health check, a proposal introducing a fruit and vegetable scheme in schools, and proposals authorising the placing on the market of products containing, consisting of or produced from genetically modified soyabean and cotton. With regard to fisheries, the Council is due to agree the in-year TAC and quota adjustments for certain stocks, as well as the revised EU-Mauritania fishery agreement. The main fisheries item for discussion concerns the planned measures for coping with high fuel prices. Under any other business, the Agriculture Commissioner will provide the usual update on the WTO-DDA negotiations. Hungary and Romania have tabled AOB items respectively on non-recoverable VAT under the rural development regulation and on forestry policy.