Brussels, 13/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - Most European agriculture ministers agreed with the idea that a more ambitious Community policy was needed to promote EU agricultural products. This view was expressed during the informal meeting on 13 September in Wroc³aw (Poland). The meeting was chaired by Marek Sawicki, the Polish minister for agriculture and rural development. Many agriculture ministers also requested greater simplification in policy implementation in the internal market and the markets of third countries, with regard to the consumption of European products.
Dacian Cioloº, the European commissioner for agriculture, indicated that he would like to at least double or triple Community budget on promoting different products. The EU's current annual budget for promoting EU agricultural products is €53 million (excluding fruit, vegetables and wine). The US budget for such action stands at $200 million.
The public consultation on the Green Paper on promoting products will come to a close on 29 September. The European Commission will come up with proposals in 2012 on strengthening product promotion. During a press conference following the informal Agriculture Council meeting, the commissioner stated: “We have to be ready, in 2014, in having new instruments for an enhanced promotion policy on the Community market and above all, on the external market (third countries).” The commissioner added that a public policy, such as the common agricultural policy (CAP), “has a role to play in the promotion of specificities in the agriculture and agri-food sectors in Europe, particularly regarding quality, diversity and all the different standards required to reassure consumers.”
On role distribution between the Commission and member states, most of the states at the Agriculture Council came out in favour of this duality (countries that preselect programmes and the Commission that finalises and validates the projects) and respect for subsidiarity (involving the member states). Some countries, such as Austria, consider that it is necessary to further reflect on distributing these roles and that member states should be more involved in programme evaluation. This would enable member states to exclusively tackle certain dossiers at local and regional levels. Many countries highlighted the need to simplify procedures for selecting and implementing programmes. Italy mentioned the possibility of establishing a specific emergency procedure for promoting products in crises (such as fruit and vegetables).
European agriculture ministers were generally happy with current rules on co-funding levels (which stand at present at 50% from the EU, up to 30% from the country and up to 20% from operators). Some member states called for an increase in the level put up by Community: France, for example, made this call for certain specific products (quality products and organic produce) and schemes put forward by several countries; Romania also wanted a higher Community contribution; as did Greece (for promotion in naturally handicapped islands).
In terms of promotional activities to be put in place to enhance the position of European agriculture on the global market, the United Kingdom argued for a policy of more active promotion in the emerging countries. Spain called for targeted market studies. Several countries highlighted the importance of promoting local and regional produce. Some asked for promotion for other goods: - medicinal herbs (request from Romania); - processed meat products (several eastern European countries, such as Latvia); - roses (Bulgaria).
According to Copa (Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations) and Cogeca (General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives) European products are rapidly “losing shares” on the domestic market. It is, therefore, vital “to boost promotion of agricultural produce and to make sure it becomes a key policy in the future common agricultural policy (CAP)”. Addressing agriculture ministers, Cogeca President Paolo Bruni stressed: “It is more important than ever to promote EU agricultural products on domestic and foreign markets.” He pointed to the need to increase market share in the emerging economies, such as China and India, but warned that promotion campaigns targeting non-EU countries are often being under-used and it was, therefore, important to improve coherence with other policies, to carry out impact studies and to make the conditions governing the programmes more flexible. “Agricultural cooperatives are contributing more and more to exports of processed products which is why an innovative approach concerning the labelling of origin of produce is needed and why brands should be able to be used in certain cases”, he said. He insisted that promotion policy is only a complementary measure and must not be used as a substitute for other instruments under the CAP, such as the tools which were called for during the EU fruit and vegetable crisis.
Joris Baecke, President of the European Council of Young Farmers, called at the informal Council for: - a strong promotion policy, including a good budget for internal and external markets; - generational renewal to be priority in the CAP reform - currently only 6% of European farmers are under 35 and 4.5 million will retire in the next 10 years; - combination of policy instruments in both pillars of the CAP; - a top up direct payment for young farmers in Pillar I. (L.C./transl.fl/rt)