Brussels, 10/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - The Agriculture Council to be held in Brussels on Monday 13 July, which will be chaired by the Luxembourg minister, Fernand Etgen, will be given over to GMOs, the presentation of the working programme for the next six months and the impact of the ban imposed by Russia on imports of agricultural products from the EU. The Council will take stock of the problems faced by the milk, sugar and pork meat sectors.
Working programme of the Presidency. The Luxembourg Presidency will present its working programme in the sectors of agriculture and fisheries. The Presidency's priorities include: - supporting a genuine simplification of the reformed common agriculture policy (CAP); - starting negotiations with the European Parliament on organic farming; - following market developments, including the effect of the Russian ban, and the milk market following the expiry of dairy quotas.
As regards food and veterinary issues, the Presidency is planning to: - start work on the revision of the authorisation procedure for genetically modified organisms present in foodstuffs and animal feed; - make efforts to lead the Council to a first-reading agreement with the Parliament on the proposal regarding protection measures against organisms which are harmful to plants (plant health); - finalise a more integrated and cross-cutting approach to official controls in order to reach a compromise between the member states so that negotiations with the Parliament on this issue can begin; - seek agreement with the European Parliament on the legislative proposal on the zootechnical and genealogical conditions applicable to trade and imports into the Union of breeding animals and their germinal products and on the finalisation of the medicated feed dossier; - continue work on medicinal products for veterinary use, with a particular focus on combating antimicrobial resistance.
GMO. The Commission will present the ministers with a communication reviewing the decision-making process on genetically modified organisms (GM) and a proposed regulation on the possibility for the member states to restrict or prohibit the use of genetically modified food and feed on their territory.
The ministers will then hold an exchange of views on the proposal, which seeks to achieve a balance between keeping in place a European authorisation system and the freedom for the member states to decide whether or not GMOs can be used on their territory.
Russian ban. The Commission will report back to the Council on market developments, particularly the impact of the Russian ban. This plan has affected fruit and vegetables, milk and dairy products and beef, pork and poultry meat.
Fruit/vegetable/milk in schools. Council wrote to the Commission asking it to change the legal basis of these proposals, on the grounds that the provisions on setting the level of support should be based on article 43, paragraph 3, of the TFEU (Council competence). Pending the Commission's reply, the technical examination of the proposals has been suspended in the Council. The EP did not follow the Commission's advice to hang fire and adopted its position at first reading on 27 May of this year.
Milk, pork meat and sugar. The Bulgarian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Slovenian and Slovakian delegations will report back to the Council on the worrying situation of the market for dairy products and the Austrian delegation will take stock of issues affecting producers of pork meat in the EU. By request of the Italian delegation, the ministers will also discuss the future of the sugar sector, which is currently experiencing a difficult economic situation. Amongst other things, Italy is seeking to secure a smooth transition when the (sugar) quotas regime ends in 2017.
Research on soils. The French delegation will present an initiative for an international research programme, called '4 for 1,000', which aims to develop agronomic research to improve organic matter stocks in the soils of 4 per 1,000 per year. Such an increase would offset all emissions of greenhouse gases on the planet.
Forestry. The Slovenian delegation will brief the ministers on the outcome of the ASEM (Europe-Asia dialogue) conference on sustainable management and use of forests which took place in Ljubljana from 24 to 27 May 2015.
Additionally, the Council will hear from the Netherlands delegation on how plant breeders rights (on plant selection) and food production could be affected by a recent decision of the European Patent Office extending the possibility to patent certain types of plant varieties. The Dutch delegation will give details to the ministers on an initiative to further reduce the use of pesticides. (Lionel Changeur)