Brussels, 31/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - A trialogue (Council, European Parliament, Commission) on the contractualisation measures in the dairy sector (dairy package) will take place on 10 November, with the objective of seeking agreement on this dossier. At the forthcoming Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA), to be held on Monday 7 November, the Polish Presidency of the Council of Ministers of the EU will present a compromise text on the position to be defended at this trialogue by the Council.
The three subjects still under discussion by the member states, and between the Community institutions, are the obligatory nature and duration of the contract (between producers and dairies), managing supply of products under protected designation of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI), and strengthening inter-professional organisations.
At the SCA of Monday 24 October, several member states, including Spain, France, Hungary, Belgium and Portugal, stressed the importance of reaching an agreement with the EP on this dairy package dossier before the end of the year, even if this means showing flexibility on certain positions, as several delegations stated (Austria, Hungary, Finland, Belgium and Portugal).
The Presidency explained the position that the Council will defend to the EP, which includes: - opposing the obligatory nature of contracts (the EP is calling for these contracts to be obligatory, whilst the Commission and several countries are pleading for them to be voluntary); - showing flexibility on managing supply for PDO and PGI products (only for cheeses, however, not for all quality products, the Presidency notes); - considering (as the EP requests) giving countries of the EU the option to define a maximum period for contracts between producers and dairies (the period has not yet been defined), as long as this creates no disturbance on the single market.
At the SCA, a number of countries took the floor to argue in favour of voluntary contracts, among them Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands and Estonia. Certain delegations (the so-called liberal countries, plus Germany) said that they were prepared to discuss the duration of contracts, as long as this had no effect on trade. France and Spain suggested leaving it to the countries to decide the minimum contractual period.
On managing supply of PDO and PGI products (cheeses), France and Italy plan to present a document explaining their arguments on this.
Additionally, the Polish Presidency has indicated that the Council is likely to reject amendment 41 of the EP, which stipulates that in the event of raw milk supply coming from less-favoured areas (mountainous areas, intermediate least-favoured areas, areas with a specific natural handicap), “any transfer of volume collected in an area which is not an LFA, or between different types of LFA, must be authorised in advance by the inter-branch organisation to which the collector and producer concerned belong”.
The Polish Presidency also suggested accepting amendment 25, which obliges member states to recognise the interprofessional organisations. (LC/transl.fl)