EU agriculture ministers meeting in Bratislava on Tuesday 13 September were divided on whether there was any need for legislation to tackle unfair commercial practices (UCPs). Some countries, such as Italy, Poland and Ireland, called for EU measures while Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries opposed any such approach.
The European Parliament is bringing pressure to bear for the EU to pass legislation to address unfair commercial practices (such as late payment, restricting market access, unilateral changes to contractual conditions, wrongful termination of contracts, unfair transference of commercial risk, and transference of transport and storage costs to suppliers). The Commission has yet to indicate if it intends to present proposals on strengthening the position of farmers on the food supply chain. It will decide once it has studied the conclusions (expected at the end of October or start of November) of the agricultural markets task force.
The Slovak minister, Gabriela Matecna, who chairs the Agriculture Council, acknowledged that member states held very differing positions on unfair commercial practices and on strengthening producer organisations.
During the debate, Irish minister Michael Creed said that he wanted the Commission to legislate to prevent unfair commercial practices in the food supply chain. He pointed out that, hitherto, the Commission had preferred voluntary measures and self-regulation. Other ministers, such as those of Spain, Italy, Austria, Romania, Poland and Lithuania, backed EU legislation.
France and Germany, however, were reluctant about legislating in this area. Germany said it was against EU legislation, arguing that what was needed was for cooperatives to work more in the interests of farmers. Latvia, too, opposed EU legislation, as did the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
“There are already a great many European laws and domestic measures must not be put in doubt by a new law”, said French minister Stephane Le Foll. He argued that what was needed was agreement on the limits to be put on European competition law. When the prices of raw materials fall, “the consumer never feels the benefit … unlike distributors and, in particular, the industry. We must be able to trigger a mechanism that provides derogations to competition law in the event of crises in order to maintain the prices paid to producers. Otherwise, it is the others who increase their profit margins”, Le Foll argued. He suggested: - strengthening the milk and meat observatories by closely monitoring producers’ margins; - giving greater support to collective organisation of producers.
Jerzy Plewa, Director General at the Commission’s DG Agriculture, highlighted on Tuesday that 20 EU countries already had laws against unfair commercial practices. A number of sources have suggested that the speech by Jean-Claude Juncker on the state of the Union could contain a passage on strengthening the position of farmers on the food supply chain. The Commission could, then, bring forward proposals on this next year.
On the issue of transparency on the markets, most countries welcomed the recent measures taken by the Commission (European Milk Market Observatory, new observatory for meat) and the information made available to stakeholders. Several countries, such as France, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic, however, asked for details to be provided not only on the prices themselves but also on price breakdown and margins. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)