BELGIAN MINISTER TO REVIEW EC OILS/FATS TAX PLAN
Belgian Agriculture Minister Paul de
Keersmaeker said he would review EC Commission proposals for a
tax on imported and EC produced vegetable oils and fats in the
light of objections made by certain EC member states.
    De Keersmaeker, current chairman of the EC farm ministers'
council, was speaking after a three-day meeting of ministers at
which the tax proposal was one of the key themes.
    He said he would review the position as part of plans to
present compromise proposals for the 1987/88 farm price package
to the next meeting, starting in Brussels on May 18.
    De Keersmaeker, who said there was "a great deal of
resistance in many delegations" to the tax, declined to say what
aspects of the proposals he would review.
    However, EC Commission sources said they are expected to
include the question of whether it should apply to marine oils.
    They said Denmark and Portugal might agree to the tax, to
be set initially at 330 Ecus a tonne, if these oils, of which
they are major producers, were excluded.
    The sources said, however, that Britain, the Netherlands
and West Germany continue to have strong objections to the tax,
partly because of fears that its impact on U.S. Soybean exports
could provoke transatlantic trade friction.
    They said that, if these three countries held firm to this
position, they would be able to block the proposal under the
EC's majority voting mechanism.
 Reuter
