Brussels, 12/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Monday 15 December, the agriculture ministers of the EU will discuss market measures against the Russian ban and the future of the dairy sector, adopt conclusions on young farmers and take note of the report on the state of play with negotiations on organic production.
The last Agriculture Council of the year and the final one under the Italian Presidency will provide several member states with the opportunity to argue in favour of additional support measures to offset the effects of the Russian ban on agri-food products of the EU.
Poland will call for the creation of an income support programme for its producers of fruit - particularly of apples. It would like to see a compensatory aid scheme based on the model set in place for milk producers in the Baltic states and Finland.
Poland also considers that the general measures already taken for the dairy sector (private storage aid, extension of public intervention) “have failed to improve the difficult market situation and offset the negative effects of the Russian ban”. Amongst other things, Poland is calling for the financial burden related to the milk quota superlevy to be reduced. Specifically, Warsaw is calling for the fat correction coefficient to be adjusted, also arguing in favour of authorisation for this superlevy to be paid in several interest-free instalments for the growing year 2014/2015.
Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, France, Hungary, Poland and Romania, supported by Austria and Estonia, will ask the Commission to set in place a private storage aid regime to “alleviate the pig meat market situation in Europe, until alternative outlets can be found”. These member states consider that the situation in the sector has “reached critical levels” due to the restrictions on import set in place by Moscow in February 2014, followed by the embargo announced in August. They stressed that 3.3% of pork production in Europe was previously exported to Russia and that prices for this meat are now “well below last year's prices and the five-year average”.
Milk. The Presidency has planned a debate on the future of the dairy sector, which is expected to revive the disagreements between the countries on this subject. It is proposing to discuss solutions to attenuate price volatility, the role of the European Milk Market Observatory and actions to be taken to help farmers face the consequences of the end of dairy quotas in April 2015.
The Presidency will submit a report on the state of play with the work on the project to merge two programmes for the distribution of products in schools (fruit and vegetables on the one hand and milk on the other). On this dossier, there is a row with the European Parliament over the legal basis.
Organic. The Italian Presidency has given up hope of pushing a partial general orientation on the proposed reform of the European rules on organic farming through the Council. It will present a report on the state of progress with the work, but still hopes to convince the agriculture ministers to adopt a 'political orientation document' on this text (outlines on which the Council has nonetheless managed to find some common ground, such as keeping mixed farms in place and maintaining the derogations allowing conventional seed to be used in organic farming). According to an Italian Presidency source, the Commission is not expected to withdraw its proposal. Work will continue under the Latvian Presidency.
Young farmers. The Council will aim to adopt conclusions on reinforcing the policy to support young farmers. During the preparatory work, reservations were tabled by the Commission on a number of member states (Germany, Austria, Finland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Poland, and others) about the possibility of facilitating access to land and speculation risks. Conclusions will also be approved without debate on the error rate in agricultural expenditure.
State aid. The Council will adopt, unanimously and without debate, a decision on a request for a derogation by Cyprus on keeping in place the tax exemption applied to fuels for agricultural use. This exemption, which is considered state aid, will be granted retroactively for the second half of 2014. From next year, agricultural diesel will be taxed at the minimum rate laid down by EU rules, or 2.1 cents per litre. Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium are expected to abstain during the vote, which will not prevent it from being adopted unanimously.
Lastly, a report will be presented on negotiations for the animal and plant health “package”, in which the question of seeds may be the subject of Presidency information under “Any other business”.
Other questions will also be raised under “Any other business”, such as the results of a ministerial meeting on animal welfare (14 December) and the extension of the eligibility of expenditure under the rural development programmes 2007-2013. (LC)