Brussels, 12/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - As announced (see EUROPE 11312), the Agriculture Council of Monday 11 May failed to adopt a general approach to the legislation concerning organic production. The work will resume a technical level with a view to an agreement at the Council meeting of 16 June. The ministers will also discuss organic at their informal meeting in Riga (30 May to 1 June).
“I am fairly certain that we will have an agreement in June” on the organic farming dossier, said Janis Duklavs, the Latvian agriculture minister and president-in-exercise of the Council. At a press conference on Monday evening, the Latvian minister said that “we have managed to agree on many important points. We will have the opportunity to return to the subjects which are still outstanding (controls and the presence of pesticides and herbicides: Ed) at the June Council”.
Phil Hogan, the European commissioner for agriculture, noted that there had been “a fair bit of progress” on the organic dossier. Negotiations between member states on a couple of points are still needed, he confirmed. The Presidency is giving the delegations more time to analyse the proposals (on non-authorised substances and the controls), the Commission explained. In answer to a question from the press, Hogan welcomed an agreement on a series of rules taking account of European producers and importers. As regards non-authorised substances, “it's true that this is an issue on which there are differences of opinion within the Council, but progress has been made”, the Commissioner stressed.
“We must not give up. I have had interesting talks with the ministers, who put forward objections on the two sensitive issues. I do not believe that there are any insurmountable differences. There are always possible solutions”, said Janis Duklavs.
On authorised substances, the compromise text provides, amongst other things, for a threshold, above which certain procedures (investigations) would be triggered in the event of the contamination of organic products with non-authorised substances. However Germany, amongst others, is reported to be standing firm in its continued opposition to any question of a threshold. For the controls, the possibility of an annual control will be kept in place, with controls every three years for the lowest-risk farms. (Lionel Changeur)