There was general approval among EU agriculture ministers in Brussels on Tuesday 15 November for the recommendations of the agricultural markets task force but views were divided on whether the need exists for EU legislation to ban unfair trade practices on the food supply chain (see EUROPE 11667).
Initiatives to improve transparency and information on the markets were welcomed by a large number of ministers.
A number of countries (Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands and United Kingdom) argued against the task force’s recommendations for EU legislation to ban and punish unfair trade practices. EU legislation was backed by Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia.
Sweden was sceptical about putting in place new risk management tools. Risk management tools, it may be recalled, exist in the second pillar (rural development) of the common agricultural policy (CAP) but not in the first (direct aid and market measures).
The United Kingdom backed the idea of a compulsory price notification system (as suggested by the task force) and, like Italy, raised the issue of futures. When discussing contract agreements, the Italian delegation said that price indexation should be built in to take account of production costs. Italy also argued for increased support for producer organisations. Romania raised the need for a labelling system against counterfeiting. The French minister put the case, as he had done at the informal meeting on the future of the CAP in Chambord (see EUROPE 11615 and 11625), for a further pillar on risk and crisis management tools.
The Netherlands contended that, in future, the CAP should be extended to include food policy. Croatia, however, opposed this idea. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)