Brussels, 16/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - The experts on the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) were largely happy with the draft conclusions on how to improve the food supply chain, which the Council of EU agriculture ministers is due to adopt on 29 March. However, a few adjustments will be needed for the text to be acceptable to the majority of delegations.
The draft conclusions underline the need to improve the structure and consolidation of the agri-food sector. They stress the importance of interbranch organisations and the need to strengthen and increase the size of cooperatives and producer organisations. Some member states, such as Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, said in the SCA that increasing the size of cooperatives and producer organisations should not, in itself, be the aim - rather it is the power that these bodies wield that matters.
The draft conclusions encourage self-regulation initiatives among stakeholders in the food supply chain, and call on the Commission to prepare standard contracts, use of which will be voluntary, for the agri-food sector. Some countries, such as France, Greece, Portugal and Romania, are calling for these instruments to be made compulsory, while others - Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, in particular - say that these contracts have to remain optional. Identical differences appear when the text speaks of the (optional) adoption of Codes of Good Commercial Practice for all stakeholders in the food supply chain.
With regard to articulation between the CAP and competition rules, some countries - France, Greece, Italy and others - call for clear commitment to changing the rules of the game, while others - the Czech Republic, Denmark, the United Kingdom and others - are much more cautious. The draft conclusions will be discussed in the SCA once again, particularly to take account of the outcome of the debate in the high level group charged with reflecting on the future of the dairy sector due to take place on 23 February. (L.C./transl.rt)