Brussels, 15/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - At the Agriculture Council on Monday 15 December, the Italian Presidency presented a progress report on the proposal on organic farming. It would have liked the Council to agree a partial general approach but seven delegations were against.
The Italian Presidency noted “strong support” among agriculture ministers for its policy position paper on this text (the broad thrust on which the Council was able to find common ground, such as maintenance of mixed farming and maintenance of exemptions allowing the use of conventional seeds in organic farming).
Austria suggested that the Commission drop the proposal. Germany is not against “starting again from scratch”. The Netherlands opposes the policy position paper and repeated its criticism of the Commission text. Lithuania is happy with the progress report but not with the guidelines (like Sweden). On the other side, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Greece, Poland, Slovenia, Hungary and others supported the Italian Presidency texts and are not keen to start again. The areas of consensus have to be built on, said the French minister. Finland supported the guidelines but wondered if there is a need for revision. Denmark said that the text on the table is “much better” but that it was still too soon for a general approach. Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan hailed the progress made under the Italian Presidency. There are points in the text that need to be amended, he said. The current proposal has to be fine-tuned, building on the work of the Council, he said: he would carry the message to the College of Commissioners that the Council wants to take this issue forward. Any future progress will now be for the Latvian Presidency. (LC)