Brussels, 14/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The agriculture ministers of the member states of the EU will meet in Brussels on Monday 17 February to discuss, among other things, the proposal on the promotion of EU products on the internal market and in third countries. Other subjects on the agenda of this first Agriculture Council of the year will be the distribution of fruit and vegetables and milk in schools, the future of the dairy sector and the consequences (in particular, the Russian embargo) of the appearance of African swine fever in Lithuania.
Greek Minister for Rural Development and Food Athanassios Tsaftaris will present the working programme of the Presidency (delegated acts concerning the entry into force of the reform of the common agriculture policy (CAP), conclusion of an agreement on the promotion of agricultural products, examination of the report and possibly a proposal on the fruit and vegetable sector).
Promotion. The Council will hold a general debate on the reform of the programme to support promotional activities for agricultural products of the EU (see EUROPE 11015 on the debate of the EU experts). The Greek Presidency hopes to be able to forge an agreement between the member states, on the basis of the position reached by the experts of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on 31 March. The European Parliament may vote on this at the end of its legislative period, that is, in April. This will make for an extremely tight timetable.
Milk. Dacian Ciolos, European Commissioner for Agriculture, will present the proposal on the revision of the aid scheme for the distribution of fruit and vegetables and milk in schools (see EUROPE 11008).
The ministers will continue their discussion on the future of the dairy sector, which they started in December following the presentation by Ciolos of the conclusions of the conference of September 2013 on the post-quota period (see EUROPE 10986).
The Russian dossier. Under any other business, the Council will discuss, at the request of Lithuania and Poland, the consequences of the appearance of African swine fever in Lithuania. Russia has decreed an embargo on imports of pork meat from the EU, which has caused pork producers a great many problems. In Vilnius on 12 February, experts from the EU and Russia started talks to seek solutions to the Russian embargo. The Russian veterinary services continue to be of the opinion that the “regionalisation” measures (ban on movements of animals and the sales of products applied to an area where the disease has been declared in Lithuania) proposed by the Commission are insufficient. On 7 February, Commissioner for Health Tonio Borg, who persists in his view that this embargo is “totally disproportionate and runs counter to the principle of international trade”, urged the Russian authorities to “engage in constructive dialogue in order to seek a satisfactory solution”. The commercial restrictions are having a “serious economic impact on all European operators”, whilst the disease is present only in a limited part of southern Lithuania, said Borg.
Also on the agenda of the Council: the innovation partnership for agricultural productivity and sustainability (presentation of the Commission's communication), the climate disaster in Slovenia, the conclusions of the 34th conference of the directors of the paying agencies of the EU, which was held in Vilnius from 23 to 25 October 2013 (presentation by Lithuania), the results of the third conference on agriculture, food and nutritional safety and climate change, which was held in Johannesburg from 3 to 5 December 2013 (presentation by the Netherlands). (LC/transl.fl)