Brussels, 13/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire and his Slovenian counterpart, Dejan Zidan, called on Wednesday 12 January, in Paris, for a group of experts to be set up as a matter of urgency at European level to address the crisis in the pig sector.
Le Maire said: “We are urgently calling for a high level group to be set up on pigmeat. This was the case for the dairy sector and it gave excellent results”. He added: “As for milk, we need European solutions”. During the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers on 26 October 2010, France had called for “vigorous intervention” by the EU in favour of the pigmeat sector (see EUROPE 10244). The European Commission had simply indicated that it was taking a close look at the situation. Bruno Le Maire had recommended export aid and storage aid to support prices. Belgium, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Hungary, Denmark, Austria and Greece had recognised the structural problems of pig farming. In France, producers, who were faced with a rise in the cost of animal feed as cereal prices surged, are calling for the rise in prices to be offset by higher prices paid by the processing industry.
CAP reform. After Austria, Hungary and Italy, Slovenia has also given its “official” blessing to the position held by France and Germany on reform of the CAP after 2013. “Fewer than five countries do not rally to this position”, Bruno Le Maire said. “Beyond a common idea of European agriculture”, the French and Slovenian ministers affirm that agriculture is a strategic sector of the EU which needs public support, especially in mountainous areas. “We refuse a single and globalised agricultural model which does not respect environmental and health rules”, they agree. Dejan Zidan also took a stance against a single aid rate per hectare identical in all member states. This is an idea which is still only attractive to a number of new member states, including Poland, but which gives rise to reservation in many countries and within the Commission. (L.C./transl.jl)