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and the Dutch had guaranteed that the question would be placed on the Agricultural Council meeting's agenda. He would be going on to Dublin, and then calling on M. Rocard in Paris.
3. Sir Geoffrey Howe commented that no-one could say that New Zealand was not pursuing her case. He had raised the matter at the last Foreign Affairs Council. He had also spoken to the Irish Foreign Minister who indicated that the matter was of particular concern to his agricultural colleague. The question now returned to the Agricultural Council.
4. Mr Cooper thought the Irish had emerged well from the agreement on the super levey. Mr Young said that one would have thought that the Irish would therefore have yielded a little. It was not in their interest that the matter remained unresolved when they took over the Presidency.
5.
Asked about progress on EC Budget reform, Sir Geoffrey Howe said that there were no new proposals at present. Those EC Members who said that the UK must make the first move to bridge the gap had to be brought to see that the movement required of the Nine, as nations, was much less than that required of Britain alone. It would suit all to have the Budget problem out of the way before the European elections.
6. Sir Geoffrey Howe referred to the question of the security of small territories, and outlined the work currently being done in the FCO. He added that the Foreign Affairs Committee was also looking at the subject. The Government had not yet reached a conclusion, but was of the view that prevention was better than cure: ie a measure of self-help with some under-pinning. Mr Cooper confirmed that this coincided with New Zealand's approach. He sought clarification that this indicated "States". There were fairly clear regional groupings where co-operation made sense eg the Caribbean (where Belize could also qualify), the South Pacific, the Indian Ocean. small Gulf states were a separate matter.
The
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