Brussels, 29/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - Council agreement on the revision of the European rules on organic farming needs to be reached before the end of June. The dossier will therefore be central to the informal meeting of the agriculture ministers of the countries of the European Union, to be held in Riga, the capital of Latvia, on Monday 1 and Tuesday 2 June.
The Latvian Presidency of the Council had already been planning for several months to devote this meeting to a debate on organic farming. It had hoped that the negotiations on the revision of the organic legislation in the EU would already have been concluded, so that the discussions could focus on the future of the sector. However, this is not going to be the case, as the Council is still divided over the issue and failed to reach a general approach on the draft text in Brussels on 11 May.
The talks faltered over two sensitive issues: controls (annual or based on risk analysis) and the presence of non-authorised substances in organic products (whether or not a “de-certification” threshold should be set in place). This means that the member states will need to reach a common negotiating position in Luxembourg on 16 June, in order to start trialogue meetings with the European Parliament. The dossier will therefore be central to the agenda of the informal Council.
The Latvian Presidency plans to put two questions to the delegations during the debate on Tuesday: what are the existing political instruments which have proven the most effective in resolving the problems of the organic farming sector, and what instruments will be necessary, at EU level and also internationally, to prevent and resolve future problems?
The committee on agriculture of the European Parliament has started its examination of the draft report by Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, Germany) on the issue. The text will not be adopted before the summer and the negotiations with the Council, then under Luxembourg presidency, will start in the autumn. (Lionel Changeur)