Brussels, 10/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - Most EU agriculture ministers, meeting in Brussels on Monday 10 November, voiced their opposition to the Commission proposal to redirect the additional common agricultural policy (CAP) income (€448 million) in 2014 to other areas. The Agriculture Council voted against the Commission proposal aiming to use the 2015 agricultural crisis reserve to finance support measures already adopted to alleviate the effects of the Russian embargo on EU agri-food products.
On the initiative of French minister Stéphane Le Foll, 21 ministers (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain) signed a joint statement protesting against amending letter No 1 to the 2015 budget. These countries say that the measures intended to lessen the impact of the Russian embargo should be funded from the additional income of the agricultural funds (€448 million) and the crisis reserve kept in order to be able to respond in the event of a new or deeper crisis in 2015.
Letter to Ecofin Council.
Following this venting of ire by the 21 ministers, the president in office of the Agriculture Council, Maurizio Martina, decided to send a letter to the president of the Ecofin Council, Pier Carlo Padaon, ahead of negotiations on the 2014 budget, due to take place on Friday 14 November. The letter states that a “large number” of agriculture ministers had expressed their serious concern at the Commission proposal to reduce the agriculture budget by €448 million. This decision, states the letter, a copy of which has been seen by EUROPE, will severely penalise the agricultural sector and produce serious consequences for European farmers who are already suffering as a result of the Russian embargo. The letter points out that a widely supported call had been made within the Council, calling for 2015 credits under the agriculture heading not to be reduced and for the additional income to be allocated to fund the measures resulting from the Russian embargo. The crisis reserve must not be used, the letter says, to finance these measures and, therefore, the reserve must be maintained in case there is a new crisis in 2015.
At the request of the Baltic States and Finland, the draft letter to the Ecofin Council was slightly amended to make reference to the future measures that will be taken in the milk sector (targeted compensatory aid for the countries worst hit by the Russian embargo). This aid has been promised but is slow in coming because of budgetary difficulties.
The amending letter to the draft EU budget for 2015 provides for use to be made of the €448 million in additional income for the CAP budget, not to support the producers impacted by the Russian embargo on EU agrifood products, but to finance other priority programmes, such as tackling Ebola. As a result, the Commission suggests that the market measures implemented after the embargo be funded through the agricultural crisis reserve planned for 2015 (€433 million obtained through a 1.3% reduction in direct aid). If this were to happen, given the measures already taken, only €88 million would remain in the crisis reserve and 2015 has not even begun yet.
Decision at next Ecofin Council?
New Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan told ministers that, within the current very tight budgetary context, CAP measures have to be “well targeted”. His view, in brief, was that the measures taken to allay the impact of the Russian embargo were legitimate. He pointed out, without going too far at this stage, that financing crisis measures is one of the matters for inter-institutional discussion on the 2015 budget. For the commissioner, the ball is in the court of the Council and the European Parliament, which institutions will have to try to reach agreement on the 2015 budget (the conciliation period ends on 17 November).
The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Germany decided not to sign the letter. Germany, however, indicated that, in principle, it supported the action of the other countries and suggested using the money from the super-levy on milk to fund the measures taken as a result of the Russian embargo. The United Kingdom said that this matter did not fall within the remit of the Agriculture Council but was for the Ecofin Council to decide.
The European Parliament agriculture committee has also judged it unacceptable to use the 2015 agricultural crisis reserve to fund support measures against the Russian ban (see EUROPE 11192)
Pig-meat sector request. Several agriculture ministers asked for adoption of aid for private storage (for a period of six months) for pig-meat, to mitigate the price falls on the market. The request was made by Denmark and supported by Belgium, Hungary, the Netherlands, Latvia, Ireland and Austria. The substance of Hogan's response was that this request was not particularly welcome or well-timed as private storage was costly. The cost of this aid was put at some €100 million. Additionally, according to the Commission, a measure of this sort would only put off the problem until the following year. (LC)