Brussels, 15/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - At the Agriculture Council on Monday 14 November, Hungary and other countries (France, Lithuania, Austria and Romania) called for the system of sugar production quotas to be kept in place until 2020. The European Commission plans to end sugar quotas in 2015.
The request from these five countries was backed by Finland and Spain. Germany opposed extension of the regime until 2020 but said it was open to retaining quotas for a shorter period of time. The United Kingdom, Sweden and Ireland reject any extension of the quota system beyond 2015.
Hungry and the others calling for an extension of the quota system point out that world stocks fell to their lowest level in 20 years in 2010-11. This has led to higher and also to more volatile market prices.
“The EU cannot retain the sugar quota system”, stated Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos. He pointed to the 2006 political agreement on the reform of the common organisation of the market (CMO) for sugar which provided for the discontinuation of quotas in 2015 so that the sector could be more competitive. The commissioner indicated, however, that the exact date for ending sugar quotas would be subject to negotiation as part of the discussions on the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).
European beet growers meet Polish minister. The International Confederation of European Beet Growers (CIBE), which is very unhappy at the proposal to end sugar quotas in 2015, had a meeting with Polish Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki, who chairs the Agriculture Council, in Brussels on Monday 14 November. The CIBE advocates: - extension of the provisions in the sugar sector, including the sugar quotas, “at least up to 2020”; - the retention and strengthening of the sugar beet contractual framework, including the inter-professional agreement and the minimum beet price; - the retention of current market management instruments (out-of-quota, carry forward, withdrawal) and consolidation of the safety net to ensure the supply of the EU market (“reverse withdrawal”); - improving the timing and implementation of market measures for a better “reactivity” to market developments; - abolition of the sugar production charge from 2015-16; - adoption of EU trade policies “consistent and compatible with the EU sugar policy”; - a revision clause in 2018 “in order to analyse the EU and global markets and discuss the future sugar CMO at that date”.
CIBE President Jorn Dalby was pleased with his discussion with Sawicki, who, apparently, shared the concerns of European beet growers over plans to end sugar quotas so quickly. (LC/transl.rt)