Brussels, 10/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - By a wide majority, experts on the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) backed the broad thrust of the draft conclusions submitted by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the EU on how to respond to the recommendations of the high-level dairy group (see EUROPE 10164). The text of these conclusions will be reviewed in the light of forthcoming debates, firstly at the informal SCA meeting on 20 September (alongside the informal EU agriculture ministers' meeting), then at 27 September's Agriculture Council. As, however, several countries, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, expressed reservations over some of the high-level group's recommendations, it would seem probable that these will be Presidency, and not Council, conclusions. It would, indeed, appear unlikely that unanimity will be reached on this text.
The European Commission is awaiting the text of the conclusions before beginning to draft legislative proposals (expected by the end of the year) on three points: contractual relations between producers and dairies, enhancing the negotiating power of producers, and the role of inter-branch organisations.
Contractual relations and negotiating power. Most countries back the need to strengthen contractual relations between producers and dairies and for formal written contracts between the two parties. At the SCA meeting, Germany, Denmark and the Czech Republic stressed the voluntary nature of these producer-dairy contracts. The draft conclusions call for clarification of competition rules in the dairy sector “to allow primary producer organisations to benefit from improved negotiating power”. Several countries (Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom) were critical of a paragraph arguing for a legislative proposal allowing producers organisations to negotiate contract terms, including prices.
Market instruments. Several delegations (including those of Italy, the Czech Republic, Denmark and the UK) called for a reworking or removal of the paragraph calling for the retention in the future, and in more or less their current form, of market instruments, as a “safety-net mechanism”. On the other hand, a number of countries (France, Finland, Poland and the Baltic countries) would, if possible, like to see a stronger statement on behalf of market instruments. (L.C./transl.rt)