Consider N.Z., E.E.C. told

Press, 18 April 1979, Page 1

Consider N.Z., E.E.C. told

NZPA London A high-level committee of the European Parliament has made a strong plea for the nine nations of the Common Market to safeguard New Zealand’s interests The Community must not tolerate New Zealand’s being squeezed out of the principal market for its farm products, according to the Parliament’s Committee on External Economic Relations. In a report submitted to the European Parliament

by the Labour peer, Lord Castle, the Community was urged to give more understanding to New Zealand’s problems. “Britain’s accession to the E.E.C. had a more drastic impact on New Zealand than on any other Western-style country,” said the report. As a result of the workings of the Common Agricultural Policy, “New Zealand could increasingly be in danger of being squeezed out of her principal market with disastrous effects on her economy. This the

Community must not tolerate.” It backgrounded New Zealand’s trading relationship with Britain, remarking that Britain regarded New Zealand as “its farm in the South Pacific” and said that the former relationship between New Zealand and Britain had now become a relationship with the E.E.C. The E.E.C. had shown its concern for New Zealand by agreeing to allow it to continue to export dairy products to Britain, but in greatly reduced amounts.

The report will form the basis of a debate on New Zealand in the Parliament in Strasbourg where members of the Parliament will be asked to acknowledge that the Community has a special responsibility to help New Zealand “maintain an adequate level of economic well-being.” The Parliament has no decision-making powers. It can merely recommend action to the Nine’s Council of Ministers or to the Community’s “Cabinet,” the European Commission.