Brussels, 02/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - In an impact study carried out over the last few months, the European Commission's Directorate General for Agriculture argues for market measures to be maintained and even improved in the period after 2013. The study, which proposes two options for ending sugar sector quotas, will inform Commission proposals, expected on 12 October, on the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).
According to the study, it is vital that the Commission be able to intervene rapidly in all sectors where circumstances require it and that provisions already contained in disruption clauses can be triggered in a limited number of sectors in the event of a crisis. Special intervention measures and disruption clauses must, the experts say, be built on a single, over-arching instrument able to respond to market disruption in all sectors and also to take account of the negative impact of health-related issues on the market.
The main changes proposed by DG Agri for intervention and aid for private storage are:
Intervention. Reference and intervention prices should remain unchanged, though no longer referring to quantities or set purchase prices, as is already the case for soft wheat, butter and powdered skimmed milk, may be up for consideration. The intervention system should be opened automatically through the tender procedure for wheat, butter and powdered skimmed milk, and optionally for barley, maize, rice and bovine meat. Durum wheat and sorghum should be removed from the list of eligible products.
Aid for private storage. Aid should be retained for butter, bovine meat, pig meat, sheep and goat meat, olive oil and sugar (until quotas are ended). Optional aid for private storage should be set up for powdered skimmed milk, linen and hemp. An alternative approach would be systematically to provide for optional aid for private storage. A further option would be to extend aid to the other products by allowing the Commission to take action (through delegated acts) in exceptional circumstances.
Sugar. In the impact study, the following two options are suggested for ending the sugar and isoglucose quota system: (1) abolition at the end of the 2015-2016 marketing year or (2) a less abrupt end by 2017-2018 after previously increasing quotas by 3% annually (for sugar and isoglucose) in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017, while maintaining the support price at the same level. A private storage aid scheme could be put in place until the end of quotas. According to a study conducted on behalf of the Commission, abolition of quotas will result in a 1.9% increase in the amount of land given over to beetroot in the EU by 2020, an 8.2% fall in beetroot prices and a drop of 3.5% in white sugar prices. (L.C./transl.rt)