Brussels, 23/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 22 February in Brussels, agriculture ministers of European Union countries discussed market management measures after 2013, and many considered new instruments would be useful in the future, especially to combat the increasing price volatility (see EUROPE 10083 on the ambitious French position on European market regulation).
The president-in-office of the Agriculture Council, Elena Espinosa of Spain, noted that there was very broad convergence of views regarding the increased volatility of markets, which has an adverse effect on farmers' incomes. “We spoke of the possibility of having a flexible financial element that would allow more elasticity for facing up to any generalised crises in sectors that have a strong foothold in Europe”, Espinosa said.
“Quite a large majority of member states seems to be interested in new instruments”, conceded Dacian Cioloº, who noted three kinds of requests: - it would be interesting to “keep intervention measures, but only as a safety net”; - “management mechanisms for crisis situations” would be useful to ensure a certain “stability in income”; - and it would be necessary to foresee “mechanisms allowing more effective talks within channels in order to ensure a better breakdown of added value”.
The commissioner warned that such measures must: - “respect reforms already made that have strengthened the competitiveness of European agriculture”; - ensure measures are taken when the market does not guarantee price and income stability, but these must not be of a permanent nature, Cioloº said; - help the market to operate better and help the agricultural sector to attain non-commercial objectives imposed on it by society (territorial maintenance, safeguarding of the environment, etc); - and preserve the principle of competition, which is at the heart of the common market.
During the debate, many ministers felt that European agriculture is sufficiently market-oriented (France, Ireland, Austria, Portugal, Greece and Poland). Many countries backed the suggestion made by the Spanish Presidency consisting of examining the possibility of completing, with new measures, instruments foreseen in the single common market organisation (CMO) regulation. Ideas include: - income insurance schemes (France, Slovenia, Greece, Hungary, etc.) or insurance schemes to cover harvests (Belgium); - the strengthening of producer and inter-professional cooperation organisations; - futures markets (France, UK, Sweden, Finland); - and the setting in place of a special crisis fund (Portugal, Hungary, Romania, Austria, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Latvia and Cyprus).
Four countries (Hungary, Romania, Netherlands and Luxembourg) recommended the creation of strategic food stocks (to ensure safety of supplies of certain agricultural commodities), an idea that is not well received by the British, Danish and Swedish delegations. In addition, Sweden recommended abolishing all market measures to replace them with private solutions. Belgium underlined the fact that, before creating a financial mechanism, it was necessary to ensure there is enough money for the CAP.
Discussion will continue within the Special Agriculture Committee (SAC) and the Spanish EU Presidency trusts the Council will soon adopt conclusions on this theme. (L.C./transl.jl)