Fortnight Publications Ltd.

Nice WorkAuthor(s): Kevin CullenSource: Fortnight, No. 312 (Dec., 1992), p. 8Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25553741 .

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q

'Ed.

Ray MacSharry?personal triumph for the outgoing commissioner

Going for GATT

John Cooney

X he initial euphoria after the settle

ment of the EC-US dispute over agri cultural subsidies late last month

quickly subsided. There was anxious

speculation about whether France

would use the 1965 'Luxembourg com

promise' veto to scupper the agree

ment, and so sabotage the renewed

momentum to conclude the Uruguay GATT round by early next year.

The 21 per cent cut in export re

fund volumes negotiated by the EC

agriculture commissioner, Ray Mac

Sharry, was sharply criticised by Irish

farming organisations, as bad for ex

ports of beef and milk. The republic's

agriculture minister, Joe Walsh, ex

pressed reservations while wanting to

look at the fine print. His British coun

terpart, John Gummer, was more up

beat about the deal, which he had

helped Mr MacSharry complete.

Despite the opposition in France,

Mr MacSharry has secured an agree ment which takes account of some of

the maximalist demands made by Paris. It does not specify a tonnage

ceiling on EC oilseed output but con

fines the sown area to the 5.1 billion

hectares contained in last May's re

form of the Common Agricultural

Policy. An obligatory 10 per cent set

aside is less than the 15 per cent tar

geted in the CAP reform.

The French government's real con

cern has been less its defence of the

countryside than the protection, from

export competition by America, of its

powerful cereal growers. On this,

France may not be able to rely on

Germany, which has sided more with

Britain in committing the Americans

merely to monitor any complaints of a

surge in import substitutes.

No doubt, the whole issue will be

debated at this month's European Council in Edinburgh, where the

French president, Francois Mitterand,

is unlikely to risk the Maastricht treaty

by vetoing a GATT accord. French

officials admit that using the Luxem

bourg compromise is as impractica ble as using the nuclear force defrappe.

Already Arthur Dunkel, the Geneva

based GATT supremo, has intensified

the schedule of talks aimed at secur

ing agreement on all 15 economic

sectors under the Uruguay round. The

next major issue in the agricultural basket will be to get Japan and Korea

to accept cuts in their protection of

rice?an issue of major political as

well as economic importance to them.

Whatever the objections of the farm

ing organisations to a global package considered to be worth $200 billion in

trade expansion, the reality underly

ing the EC-US agreement is that farm

subsidies will not be subject to inter

national regulations. ^

Nice work Kevin Cullen

JLFespite its elegant surroundings, for the past decade the US ambassa

dor's residence in the Phoenix Park in

Dublin has not been a desirable land

ing pad for American diplomats. Mar

garet Heckler went there in 1986

kicking and screaming, telling her boss

Ronald Reagan she'd rather stay in

Washington. The last two men sent by

George Bush were obscure elderly

Republican fundraisers.

But it's all change with the election

of Bill Clinton. Suddenly big names

and big shots want to go to Dublin.

The lobbying for the job is intense.

The candidates include Jean

Kennedy Smith, sister of JFK et al;

Elizabeth Shannon, widow of Jimmy Carter's ambassador to Ireland;

Charles Daly, Irish-born director of

the Kennedy Library; the former Con

necticut congressional representative Bruce Morrison and the retiring US

congressman Brian Donnelly. Ms Shannon is stressing how well

she knows the job, having been active

with her late husband, William. Messrs

Morrison and Donnelly are extremely

popular with the young Irish?each

having had a visa programme expand

ing Irish immigration opportunities named after him.

Sources say Jean Kennedy Smith

has the backing of her brother, Sena

tor Edward. Supplicants have been

lobbying the former Speaker, 'Tip'

O'Neill, said to be committed to Ms

Shannon. Mr Donnelly has spoken to

the current Speaker, Tom Foley. Mr

Morrison, a Clinton college room

mate, headed the Irish-American sup

port group for the president-elect. 'The biggest difference," said an

Irish government official, "is the cali

bre of the people who want the job now. With the Republicans, there was

not much acknowledgment of an Irish

constituency in America, so you tended to get lightweights."

Last summer, the current ambassa

dor, William FitzGerald, displayed

embarrassing ignorance while testify

ing before the Senate Foreign Rela

tions Committee. He said the republic had enthusiastically endorsed the

Maastricht treaty?the referendum

was then still two weeks away. When

asked about Northern Ireland, Mr Fit

zgerald, an 82-year-old businessman

and friend of Mr Bush, praised the

congressionally funded International

Fund for Ireland?saying it encour

aged "dialogue and co-operation be

tween the unionists and the loyalists". While the heavyweights battle for

the nice digs at Phoenix Park, some

Clinton advisers suggest the job could

go to a sleeper, especially because Mr

Clinton is not excited at the prospect of disappointing the high-powered wannabes. "One way to keep 'em all

happy," said one aide, "is to give it to

someone you've never heard of." ^

Voyeurism Conor O'Clery

15m Clinton will be the first US presi dent since Jimmy Carter to have ar

ticulated a policy on Ireland to woo

Irish-American voters (Fortnight 311).

But an unprepared Mr Carter was

ambushed by Brits Out supporters, whereas Mr Clinton was briefed and

knew exactly what he wanted to say. First outlining his policies in April

at an Irish forum in New York, Mr

Clinton later prepared a long, consid

ered, pre-election letter to Bruce

Morrison, chair of Irish Americans for

Clinton-Gore. This was written after

widespread consultations, including with the Irish embassy in Washington and the office of Senator Ted Kennedy.

In the letter Mr Clinton promised to consider a "peace envoy". He called

8 Fortnight December 1992

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