Brussels, 13/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - EU ministers of agriculture and fisheries are meeting in Luxembourg on Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 June to discuss the implementation of the reform of the common agriculture policy (CAP) at national level.
They may adopt conclusions on the milk dossier. They will also have lunch on Monday with their American counterpart Tom Vilsack, currently on a visit to Europe.
For the final session of the agriculture ministers under its Presidency, Greek is hoping for conclusions to be adopted on the future of the milk sector and on the functioning of the market organisation for fruit and vegetables since the reform of 2007.
Implementation of the new common agriculture policy. The ministers will carry out an exchange of views on how the member states intend to implement, at national level, the key elements of the new common agriculture policy (CAP), particularly as regards direct payments (greening of 30% of direct aid, coupled support, etc). Most of the measures will apply from 1 January 2015. Given the wide range of agronomic, climate, environmental and socio-economic conditions within the EU, the member states have been given a certain degree of flexibility in the implementation of the new CAP.
Milk. The Commission will present the ministers with a report on developments in the market situation in the dairy sector (see other article). The Council may adopt conclusions on the future of the dairy sector. The Presidency has prepared draft conclusions proposing a “soft landing” (for when milk quotas end in 2015), in which it calls upon the European Commission to revise the fat content coefficients in order to limit the super-levy imposed in the event of exceeding quotas (see EUROPE) 11099). However, there is by no means unanimity on this paragraph of the text of the conclusions (which has the backing of the member states which are going to exceed their production quotas, such as Austria, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium). France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia oppose it. There is greater consensus on the rest of the conclusions: giving the Milk Market Observatory indicators on the margins of players in the sector, taking the measures required for the correct application of the safety net in the event of crisis in the sector, anticipating crises.
Fruit and vegetables. In the most recent meetings of the experts of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on 2 and 10 May (see EUROPE 11099), there were still differences of opinion on the fruit and vegetables dossier. A number of member states (Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Romania and Slovenia) are calling for more funds to support producer organisations in the regions and countries where there is little organisation. They have put forward 2018 as the cut-off date for the implementation of legislative proposals. The Presidency hopes that the Council will adopt conclusions on this sector, but consensus is required, or they will be deemed Presidency conclusions (with less political clout).
Distribution in schools. The Greek Presidency will also take stock of discussions on bringing two Community programmes on the consumption of fruit and milk in schools together into a single framework, as proposed by the Commission in January of this year. The European Parliament was not able to start work on this dossier before the elections. The vast majority of member states take the view that, legally, the competence on this regulation should be exclusively that of the Council, not shared with the MEPs. Many countries also feel that the list of eligible products should be extended, in particular to dairy products such as yoghurt or cheese. Greece, Spain and Portugal are proposing to expand the list to olive oil and honey. Deep differences exist over the selection of criteria for the allocation of funds. In one corner, a group of countries is arguing in favour of historic criteria (Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Croatia, Romania and others) and in the opposite corner are those which would rather use objective criteria, such as the number of children aged between six and ten attending school, or the level of development of a region (Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Spain, etc).
Any other business. The ministers will also take stock of work on the animal and plant health package and on the specific seeds dossier.
The Commission will provide the Council with information on the European Parliament's highly critical opinion of February on the reference to the origin of fresh, refrigerated and frozen meat of animals of porcine, ovine or caprine species and poultry.
The Slovakian delegation will report on the difficult situation experienced by the forestry sector of the country, due to the storms which hit the country in mid-May.
At the request of the Hungarian delegation, supported by Belgium, Estonia, Croatia, the Republic of Slovakia and Latvia, the Commission will provide information about the raft of “Clean Air for Europe” measures and on the national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants (NEC directive).
The Presidency will present the ministers with the principle conclusions of a high-level conference on the theme of “Scientific support for agriculture: competitiveness, quality and sustainability”, which was held in Athens on 23 April 2014. Lastly, the Council is expected to adopt a decision authorising the Commission to negotiate agreements on the trade in organic products with third countries.
Giorgos Karasmanis new Greek Agriculture Minister
Giorgos Karasmanis took over from Athanasios Tsaftaris as agriculture minister, following the reshuffle carried out by the head of the Greek government, Antonis Samaras, in the wake of his party's defeat in the European elections. An agricultural economist and member of the New Democracy (Centre-Right) party since 1974, Karasmanis, 62, will also keep the environment portfolio, for which he was responsible in the previous cabinet. (LC)