ITALY STANCE ON EC OILS TAX NOT ENCOURAGING-ASA Italy's response to protests by U.S. Soybean producers about the proposed European Community (EC) tax on vegetable oils and fats had not been encouraging, American Soybean Association (ASA) board chairman George Fluegel said. Fluegel, heading one of three U.S. Soybean producer delegations currently on a lobbying tour of EC countries, told Reuters in an interview meetings with officials from the Italian Foreign and Agricultural ministries had not yielded much to encourage hopes that Italy would vote against the proposed tax. Fluegel said his delegation had received a negative response from the Italian Agriculture Ministry, but that the attitude of the Foreign Ministry appeared "more realistic." He said the proposed tax was discriminatory against U.S. Farmers since it was basically asking them to help finance the EC's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on oilseeds. Asked which EC countries might be expected to vote against the proposed tax, he said, "Realistically, from the information we're getting, it looks like the English, the Germans, hopefully the Netherlands and Denmark." His delegation also hoped to convince Belgium to vote against the issue, he added. Asked what form he thought U.S. Retaliatory action might take in the event of the EC tax proposal being approved, Fluegel said industrial as well as agricultural products could be involved. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Richard Lyng warned the EC yesterday it would face serious retaliation if it enacted the tax. ASA president-elect Wayne Bennett said yesterday in The Hague American soybean producers were confident the proposed tax would be rejected.