Brussels, 20/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - To avert any future crises in the fruit and vegetable industry, the farm ministers of France, Spain, Italy and Greece recommended on Tuesday 20 September that improvements be made in the crisis management systems and measures available at EU level for the fruit and vegetable industry, and they want action to be taken to encourage more effective regulation of the fruit and vegetable market.
The four countries point out that the fruit and vegetable industry has been suffering great problems since the spring of this year following the e-coli health crisis in Germany.
The four countries call for ways of dealing with crisis, such as: (1) more effective withdrawal arrangements; (2) in the event of a serious crisis leading to the implementation of exceptional measures on the part of the European Commission, the possibility of supplementing EU aid with national aid; 3) in periods of serious crisis, the immediate implementation with EU funding of actions for communication and promotion to encourage consumption, to assist sales and to reassure consumers, if necessary; (4) improvements in the existing withdrawal mechanism, raising the ceiling in terms of quantities that may be withdrawn from the market and updating the compensation payments for such withdrawal; (5) the creation of systems to manage economic risk and stabilise farmers' income; (6) giving horticulturalists' organisations greater weight; (7) setting up a European monitoring centre to ensure greater openness on the market; and (8) ensuring the “entry price system” works better. Portugal and Belgium back the four countries' demands and the Netherlands backs the demands for greater transparency and better marketing of products, but opposes the idea of introducing an income stabilisation system (which might be challenged at the WTO). On the latter issue, EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloº said that the gist of most of the four countries' ideas was set out by the Commission in its plans for the future of markets under the CAP. (LC/transl.fl)