Brussels, 23/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - For their first meeting of the year and under Latvian chairmanship on Monday 26 January, European agriculture ministers will discuss market developments, including the impact of the Russian embargo. The future of the sugar sector will also feature, at the request of Italy.
Latvian Agriculture Minister Janis Duklavs will set out his programme for the next six months. The Presidency priorities are: - focusing on simplifying the reformed common agricultural policy (CAP); - continuing the work on the proposal on organic farming with a view to reaching a general approach at the Council (in May) prior to opening talks with Parliament; - working on market developments, including the Russian agricultural import ban.
With regard to food and veterinary issues, the Presidency intends to: - work towards agreement with Parliament on the legislative proposal on animal health; - continue the work on a more integrated and horizontal approach to official controls to reach a compromise among member states with a view to launching negotiations with Parliament;- continue discussions on the compromise text on a harmonised approach to protective measures against organisms harmful to plants; - begin consideration of the new proposal on fertilisers; - finalise work on novel foods.
Effects of the Russian embargo
A questionnaire has been prepared by the Presidency to structure a discussion on the agricultural markets situation. The ministers will have to indicate their main priorities for the new measures on the basis of an exact evaluation of the respective effects of the Russian embargo as such and other possible factors.
Beyond the measures put in place by the Commission, the member states have, over the last few weeks, expressed their concerns for three sectors, the Latvian Presidency states in a note.
For pork, several member states (including France) are calling for private storage aid to be put in place. For fruits and vegetables, some are calling for compensation for producers' losses of income (aubergines, potatoes, cabbages and onion, in particular), and would like individual farmers to receive the same aid as that granted to producer organisations in cases of withdrawal from the market (other than for free distribution). For milk, some member states are calling for producers' losses to be eased through, inter alia, allowing payment of the super-levy in a number of interest-free tranches, the Presidency says.
Here is a list of the measures already taken after Russia banned the import of a number of EU agricultural products in August 2014, to run for a year: - emergency market support measures (on 11 August 2014 for peaches and nectarines, on 18 August 2014 for a number of perishable fruit and vegetables); - exceptional support measures (on 29 September 2014) extended to citrus fruits; - on 19 December 2014, the scheme was extended until June 2015 with specific volumes for the period from January to June 2015, for the twelve member states which exported most fruit and vegetables to Russia; - on 28 August, private storage measures for butter, skimmed milk powder and certain cheeses (on 22 September, the measure for private storage aid was stopped for cheese); - on 3 September, an additional €30 million for promotion programmes starting in 2015 was announced; - a set of compensatory measures was granted by the Commission to milk producers in the Baltic States (€28 million) and in Finland (€10.7 million).
Italy raises the alarm on sugar
Italy intends to ask the European Commission to open a high-level, in-depth debate as quickly as possible on the worrying situation in the beet and sugar sectors to assess the need for extraordinary measures to ensure a smooth transition when the current sugar quota system ends in 2017. In a note, Italy highlights that sugar prices in the EU slumped by 38.6% between January 2013 and October 2014 (from €738 per tonne to €453 per tonne) and are likely, according to Commission forecasts, to fall to €408 per tonne after the end of quotas. Such a situation will result in considerable negative consequences in some EU countries, including Italy. “The sugar industry will no longer have the possibility to grant a sustainable beet price, with the risk of factories not being supplied of the raw material needed to operate in a competitive way”, warns Italy, stressing “the necessity to ensure a responsible transition to the new production system without quotas, that will start from 1 October 2017”. (LC)