Brussels, 29/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - Due to a lack of consensus, on Monday 29 March in Brussels, the Agriculture Ministers of the Member States of the EU adopted the conclusions of the Spanish Presidency on a "more efficient food supply chain in Europe". The United Kingdom, Denmark, Switzerland and the Czech Republic did not rally in support of these conclusions, as they are opposed to any relaxation of the competition rules to reinforce competitiveness in the agricultural sector, and to certain self-regulation initiatives between those involved in the food supply chain (standard contracts).
The text of the conclusions stresses, amongst other things, that "a more efficient food supply chain would serve to support the market in the interests of all of the parties" concerned, and that a fair and sustainable distribution of added value along the food chain "will contribute to raising its overall efficiency, competitiveness and sustainability".
The text is made up of five parts: 1) improving the structure and consolidation of the agro-food sector. The conclusions underline the fact that the integration of primary producers and SME processors with the other links of the food supply chain, for example, through interbranch organisations or any appropriate forms of organisation could be stepped up and that the scope of activities of these organisations should be widened. According to the text, agricultural cooperatives and producer organisations should be strengthened and when relevant enlarged and their rules simplified. In this way, one of the key measures is training farmers in the area of strategic planning, which would make it possible for more appropriate decisions to be made on restructuring. 2) increasing transparency. The Commission is invited to explore ways to increase transparency along the food chain in accordance with market-based principles in order to favour a proportionate balance of bargaining power between stakeholders in the food supply chain. The Commission's publication of the first edition of the European price information monitoring instrument is welcomed, as are all initiatives to control price-setting. 3) fighting unfair trading practices. The conclusions emphasise the need to: - set in place stricter controls and more flexible procedures to flag unfair practices; - shorten payment lead times and, in the framework of the current revision of directive 2000/35/EC on the fight against delayed payment in commercial transactions, remove manifestly abusive trade practices; 4) encourage self-regulation initiatives. The Commission is called upon to prepare sets of standard contracts for the agro-food sector, "whose use should be voluntary". However, subject to compliance with single market rules and taking into account specific sectorial situations, Member States may decide to "make the implementation of these contracts compulsory in some cases in order to guarantee their efficiency", the text reads. It goes on to encourage the adoption of codes of good commercial practices for all those involved in the food supply chain. The observation of these codes should be optional, but the Member States could analyse whether they were being observed in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Commission. Plans are also in place to bring in a "European discussion framework" to examine relations between the players of the food supply chain. 5) the CAP (Common agriculture policy) and the competition policy. The countries of the EU are calling on the Commission to "focus on the leeway available in the application of the competition rules". A "harmonious relationship between competition policy and the CAP is essentiel to ensure the competitiveness of the sector" and, the conclusions continue, it will be necessary to amend, where required, the "competition rules and, inter alia, the relevant provisions of regulation 1234/2007 of the Council (single CMO Regulation)".
According to the European Agriculture Commissioner, Dacian Cioloº, the text of the conclusions of the Spanish Presidency "contains a coherent representation of the subjects raised by the Commission's communication on this subject (which dates from October 2009)". He announced that it is quite understandable that the issue relating to competition legislation should cause differences of opinions between the Member States (different food chain structures). Some of the proposals of the Commission, which have been stressed in the text of the Presidency's conclusions, are already the subject of discussions in the framework of the high-level expert working group on milk. These are issues related to the organisation of the sectors, the negotiation powers of the farmers and contractual relationships between the various players of the food chain. This high-level group on the dairy sector will submit a report with proposals in June of this year. Mr Cioloº will put forward initiatives for the dairy sector "before the end of the year", without waiting for the red letter date for the post-2013 CAP negotiations.
On the food chain more generally, the Commission is preparing for the start of the work of the food chain forum (in autumn 2010) "to take over from the high-level group on the competitiveness of the food chain, whose work led to the communication of October 2009 of the Commission on reinforcing the food supply chain". Lastly, the Agriculture Commissioner pledged to "seek more relevant means of action", on subjects such as relaxing the competition rules. (L.C./trans.fl)