Brussels, 17/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - At the Agriculture Council of Wednesday 16 December in Brussels, the European Commission turned down requests from Poland and Slovakia relating to the sugar sector. Poland's request concerned the abolition of the production tax which is meant to ensure the budgetary neutrality of the sector and Slovakia's related to the terms for compensatory aid to be paid to sugar beet producers in countries which have slashed their sugar quota.
In answer to Poland, which pleaded for the sugar production tax to be scrapped, Mariann Fischer Boel reiterated that this tax on producers and sugar beet growers was brought in to ensure that the sector was self-funding, taking account not only of the cost of export refunds, which had been suspended, but also the reference price for sugar, the minimum price for sugar beet and the unbundling of aid. To abolish the production tax today would alter the financial balance of the reform of the sugar sector and that "is not an option", said the European Agriculture Commissioner. Ms Fischer Boel also stressed that this tax belonged to the own resources of the EU budget and as such, its removal would oblige the Member States to increase their contribution to the common coffers. The Polish approach was supported by Austria, Portugal, Belgium, Lithuania, Romania, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and to a lesser extent by Denmark, even though this country felt that abolishing the tax should be looked into under negotiations of the forthcoming financial framework of the EU.
Slovakia called for changes to the rules to ensure that compensatory aid for the sugar beet producers of the Member States which have reduced their sugar quota by at least 50% as part of a restructuring plan could be paid to them directly within the countries (i.e. several of the "new" EU countries) applying the Single Area Payments Scheme (SAPS), rather than included in the national envelope. According to Slovakia, which was supported by Hungary, Poland and Slovenia, this situation is "discriminatory" compared to the sugar beet producers of the Member States which apply the classic single payment regime, as they received this interim support directly.
Ms Fischer Boel warned that realistically, any changes to the rules would not be implemented until 2011, in other words at least a year before this compensatory aid expires. She instead advised Slovakia to support struggling sugar beet producers by using the State aid regime of 25.6 million euros the Commission authorised this Member State to introduce in July of this year. (L.C./trans.fl)