By Fredrik Dahl

BRUSSELS - The European Commission approved a deal late on Sunday to end a row over EU imports of Norwegian salmon which had strained relations between Brussels and Oslo. The European Union executive voted narrowly after more than two hours of talks for a proposal by EU Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan to ward off the threat of a trade conflict with Norway, which is not a member of the 15-nation bloc. But while the compromise was welcomed in Norway, it drew fire from Britain, anxious to protect Scottish salmon farmers, as well as from inside the 20-member Commission itself with five members voting against. "It is not the outcome that we wanted," Scottish Industry Minister Brian Wilson told reporters after the meeting. Instead of the EU imposing an anti-dumping duty, the five-year deal which Brittan agreed earlier with Norwegian Foreign Minister Bjoern Tore Godal included a minimum price and an increase in the export duty on Norwegian salmon. In addition, Oslo agreed to limit the growth in Norwegian salm

on exports to the EU to around ten percent a year. Norway, which annually exports salmon worth around 5.5 billion crowns ($778 million) to the EU, had regarded the trade row as its most serious dispute with the EU since Norwegians rejected membership of the bloc in a 1994 referendum. "We have in my view achieved a good agreement that is of major significance both for salmon farms and for the coastal population," Godal said in a statement issued in Oslo. But EU Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock, Fisheries Commissioner Emma Bonino, Social Affairs Commissioner Padraig Flynn, Economic Affairs Commissioner Yves Thibault de Silguy and Development Commissioner Joao de Deus Pinheiro opposed the deal. "He voted against because he still wasn't convinced that the deal ensured the position of European producers against unfair competition," Kinnock's spokeswoman said. With Commission vice-president Manuel Marin abstaining and three other commissioners absent the deal just won the necessary backing of 11 votes to g

et through. Scottish and Irish competitors say Norway, the world's biggest salmon producer, is flooding the market and depressing prices. Norway, which like the EU is part of the 18-nation European Economic Area, strongly rejects the allegation. Brittan insisted that the deal with Oslo offered better protection for Scottish and Irish salmon farmers than an anti-dumping duty of 13.7 percent. The Commission earlier considered such an import duty after an internal inquiry alleged that Norwegian producers receivedstate subsidies and dumped the fish on the EU market. "Everybody agreed that there had been dumping. Everybody agreed that that had to be put a stop to. The only question was whether it was better to do it by an agreement or by the duties," Brittan said. "I have no doubt in my mind that it was better to do so by an agreement because the agreement was going to last longer and also lead to higher prices." EU officials said Brittan won some late concessions from Norway which helped to secure Commissio

n support, especially an increase in the minimum price to 3.25 European currency units ($3.7) per kilogram from an earlier proposal of 3.18 Ecus. Brittan said the deal was "pretty watertight" in terms of control over it but Scotland's Wilson was not convinced. "We have been down the road of minimum prices before and nobody in the industry believes minimum prices can be enforced because they haven't been in the past," he said.