The European Parliament agriculture committee is gearing itself up for a marathon voting session on Wednesday 3 May on the opinion on the so-called omnibus regulation for the budgets committee.
Over 500 amendments on the agricultural plank of the omnibus regulation will be put to the vote on Wednesday, and to these will be added the compromise amendments (16 to date). The opinion was drafted initially by Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy) but was taken over by Albert Dess (EPP, Germany). Most of the amendments proposed in the agriculture committee go beyond the initial proposal from the European Commission, bringing criticism from European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan (see EUROPE 11765).
De Castro proposes the creation of a new risk management tool, an income insurance scheme, which could easily be used by farmers (given the very limited use of the income stabilisation instrument). It is somewhat unlikely that this amendment will be passed by the committee. A rather ambitious compromise amendment will also be quite contentious: this would put in place a system of voluntary reduction of production that could be triggered by the Commission.
Parliament’s budgets committee is due to vote on 30 May to decide its position on the omnibus regulation which relates to the financial rules that apply to the EU’s general budget. The vote in plenary session on the Parliamentary mandate could come in June or July. Trialogue discussions could then begin on an inter-institutional agreement on this regulation. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)