I represented the United Kingdom at the December 2007 Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels. The Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment, Richard Lochhead, and the Northern Irish Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Michelle Gildernew, also attended.

The Council adopted by qualified majority, a regulation on the definition, description and labelling of spirit drinks. I voted in favour of this regulation but drew attention to the need to resolve a technical problem resulting from the omission of the term “cider brandy” from among permitted product descriptions in the new regulation.

The Council reached unanimous political agreement on a presidency compromise text on Total Allowable Catches (TACs) and quotas and related management measures for certain fish stocks for 2008. I voted in favour of the package on the basis that it represented a suitable balance between ensuring the long-term sustainability of the stocks in question, while at the same time, maintaining the economic viability of the respective UK and EU fishing fleets.

The Council also reached political agreement on a presidency compromise proposal to reform the EU wine sector. I voted in favour as the reform satisfied our main negotiating objectives, in particular the phasing out of restrictions on vineyard planting, including a derogation that will allow the continued development of the small UK wine production sector; the phasing out of EU schemes for disposing of surplus wine and wine products; satisfactory rules on wine making practices, in particular on enrichment; and provision for clearer, simpler labelling of EU wines. In addition it was important that the reform package did not result in an increase in the recent level of expenditure on wine.

The Council reached unanimous political agreement on a package of proposals on food improvement agents. The package of proposals simplifies and updates existing EU legislation on food additives and flavourings, introduces new controls on food enzymes and establishes a common procedure for authorising additives, flavourings and enzymes for use in food.

The Council reached political agreement on a common position following its first reading of a proposal establishing the sustainable use of pesticides and also took note of the state of play of discussions on proposals covering the marketing of plant protection products.

The Council also adopted by qualified majority a proposal establishing the date for application of electronic identification in sheep and goats born after 31 December 2007, with the UK voting in favour. The UK supported by Germany, Ireland and the Slovak Republic, submitted a written statement calling on the Commission to revisit its impact assessment before 31 December 2009.

The Agriculture Commissioner presented the Commission’s report on the dairy market situation sector and a proposal to increase milk quotas by 2 per cent.

Under any other business, the Council took note without discussion of updates provided by the Commission on avian influenza, and on the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the EU and Mauritania. The Council also took note without discussion of a presidency progress report on the negotiations on a proposal laying down Community procedures for the establishment of residue limits of pharmacologically active substances in foodstuffs of animal origin.

Sweden supported by a few member states, expressed concerns following European Court of Justice’s ruling concerning the eligibility criteria for the bovine slaughter premium and asked the Commission to consider how to re-establish the status quo. The Agriculture Commissioners said that the Commission could not bring forward a new proposal side-stepping the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice.

The Netherlands, supported by the UK, Denmark and Finland, called on the Commission to develop additional legislative options on illegal timber, to implement the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan.

France supported by a few member states, called for an EU strategy for the industrial use of renewable raw materials, to build upon the existing biomass action.

Germany expressed concerns with the Commission’s failure to adopt a Community plan of action to conserve shark stocks within EU waters. The Commission responded that they had just launched a consultation among member states, with a view to introducing such a plan by the end of 2008.