Brussels, 15/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - France claims to have shifted the parameters at the Agriculture Council on Monday 15 February in Brussels. These parameters involved the additional measures for overcoming the crisis affecting milk and pork meat producers. Implementation of the new measures, however, is in danger of taking some time and the implementation tools could also create division among the different countries.
On Monday, the French Minister for Agriculture, Stéphane Le Foll, held bilateral meetings with Poland, Germany and Commissioner Phil Hogan, before having a working dinner with Ministers, where he discussed the situation on the agricultural markets. After the Council, the French Minister said that the Commissioner had recognised the “seriousness of the situation”. According to Le Foll, 12 countries - Portugal, Poland, Romania, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Slovakia gave their support during the working dinner to French observations in this context and the need to take new measures. The German Minister supported France on the issue of overproduction but solutions still need to be found.
During the press conference, Hogan said that he was not satisfied with the current situation on the markets. The EU had a responsibility in this regard and it was necessary to look into new measures. He specifically mentioned the lifting of the Russian health embargo on pork meat and export credits among the possibilities highlighted in the French memorandum on the agricultural markets. The Commissioner, however, emphasised that the new measures should respect the CAP, take into account budget restrictions and obtain broad support at the Council.
Work with Commission. Phil Hogan will travel to France on 25 February, where he will meet Le Foll and Prime Minister, Manuel Valls. Le Foll explained that “we have a week to put forward new proposals for implementation”. He indicated that the Commissioner agreed on the idea of promotion measures and export credits. France aims to work towards the adoption of new measures at the Agriculture Council on 14 March.
In the milk sector, France is arguing in favour of production control tools, particularly intervention instruments. The so-called liberal countries (United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark and Germany), however, are against the principle of market regulation.
France is hoping to use Article 222 in the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation in an effort to develop instruments for regulating supply (temporary production planning) but few delegations appear to support the use of this article. France would also like instruments for limiting production (except cows). In its memorandum, France calls for a system where producers are encouraged to produce slightly less over a given period, with financial assistance for regulating the market. France highlighted the fact that it had “collective discipline” in this connection. It also supports a temporary rise in intervention prices in the milk sector but it does not have a majority at the Council in favour of this.
In the pork meat sector, Le Foll said that they also needed to limit production by restricting the number of sows.
It would also like to explore the issue of meat labelling in ready-made meals, with specific traceability.
Russian health embargo. Many countries called on the Commission to negotiate in an effort to get the Russian health embargo lifted and which has been blocking 100,000-150,000 t of pork meat a year on European territory. France believes that on the subject of the Russian health embargo, the Commission has not done enough.
French-German workgroup? The German Minister of Agriculture, Christian Schmidt, acknowledged that there was not much room for budgetary manoeuvre because there is no more money from supplementary deductions for milk (as there have not been any more quotas since 2015). He advocated: -a revision of the “milk package”;-strengthening producer organisations;-setting up a high-level group on milk. Schmidt said that he was in favour of setting up a Franco-German workgroup to discuss these subjects.
The most recent report from the European milk market observatory does not indicate any improvements in the medium term, by way of exports, explain certain sources. The French consider that the €500 million emergency plan has not resolved the market problem.
Miscellaneous. Miscellaneous points on the agricultural markets were quickly covered and the Presidency expressed a wish for this point to be discussed during the working dinner. Spain mentioned the difficult situation affecting its fruit and vegetables producers (particularly tomato producers). Poland also mentioned the difficulties in the milk and pork sectors that it was continuing to experience. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)