Brussels, 07/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - Member state experts meeting on Monday 7 March discussed possible avenues in the quest for measures to help farmers overcome the crisis in the livestock sectors. Voluntarily reducing milk production is an idea that is gaining ground.
At the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday, the Dutch Presidency of the Council organised a debate on the agricultural crisis to prepare for the talks that will take place at the Agriculture Council on 14 March. Commissioner Phil Hogan discussed the crisis with the members of the European Parliament agriculture committee in Strasbourg on Monday evening.
Regulation. France is suggesting ways to regulate milk production. At the SCA meeting, several delegations (Spain, Latvia, Luxembourg and Austria) spoke of a need voluntarily to reduce milk production. Germany is reported to have spoken of voluntary amendment of production but without any use being made of the EU budget. The Commission was prepared to listen, taking the view that, if a call to reduce production had to be launched, producers would necessarily be affected. Among the possible support measures for a reduction of this sort in production, the Commission cited: - national de minimis aid to finance temporary restructuring aid; - intervention mechanisms, while making clear that the ceiling for dairy products has almost been reached (over 900,000 tonnes at the moment).
Other avenues. The Commission is reported to have been open to the ideas put forward by the member states on: - stronger promotion measures (in third countries especially) for EU agricultural products; - export credits (possibility of discussing an exports credit system with the European Investment Bank; - improving market transparency (by setting up a European meat observatory); - examining the fertiliser market (anti-dumping duties are in place against Russian fertilisers entering the EU). In addition, France, Spain and Poland called for greater flexibility in the use of coupled aid (that is, aid which is still linked to production levels).
Crisis reserve, as a last resort. At the meeting, most countries argued for use to be made of all the agricultural budget margins before turning to the agricultural contingency reserve (which is financed by reducing direct aid). France, for example, said that use of the reserve should not be ruled out as the crisis is so severe. Ireland, Romania and Germany, on the other hand, suggested that it was premature to speak of using the contingency reserve, while Italy, the Czech Republic and Belgium opposed any use being made of the reserve.
The Commission indicated that the contingency reserve was among the three options for financing the new aid (along with the budget margins and early payments for 2017) but that it would be unrealistic to imagine that new money could be found.
Lastly, Spain and Italy in particular highlighted the crisis in the fruit and vegetables sector, resulting from the import of Moroccan tomatoes. The two countries called for the withdrawal prices to be increased. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)