European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan told MEPs on Tuesday 20 June that the Commission would, sometime around spring 2018, present proposals on better tackling unfair trading practices and improving farmers’ position on the food chain (see EUROPE 11811).
The members of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee regretted that the Commission was taking so long to act on unfair trading practices. The issue is not a simple one as it involves several directorates general. Committee chair Czesław Adam Siekierski (EPP, Poland) was critical that some directorates general were opposing EU legislation to address unfair trading practices (UTPs). “We cannot wait until the middle of 2018 as that will take us to the end of this parliamentary term. It will be chaos”, he said.
Commissioner Hogan said that the Commission has “been looking into all the possible options that we have at EU level to step up the fight against unfair trading practices”. “It is not fair for bigger players to impose unilateral changes to contracts on producers. It is not fair to demand upfront payments to secure or retain contracts, known as ‘hello money’”, he stated.
The Commission will, then, carry out an impact assessment and “consider all viable options that promise improvements over the current status quo”, he said.
The results of the assessment will be presented “in the first half of next year”. Thereafter a 12-week public consultation will take place and the Commission will try to bring forward proposals around spring 2018.
Taking questions from MEPs, Hogan displayed his determination to take action. He said that some countries had laws against UTPs, so, he reasoned, it is logical to try to harmonise the rules to prevent any distortions of competition. “We need rules at EU level to address unfair trading practices”, he stated. Price transparency is important but it is not possible to set a minimum pricing, he told an MEP.
Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager acknowledged that agriculture was a special sector which might need different rules. “But markets must be fair and open”, she stressed.
Opaque markets. Albert Dess (EPP, Germany) said he was worried at the process of concentrations. “We need binding legislative measures”, he suggested. “Markets are opaque; we need to act before it’s too late”, he warned. Éric Andrieu (S&D, France) argued that it was a matter of urgency that crises and price volatility on the markets be tackled. He called for a new regulation and highlighted the Parliament’s proposed improvements in the amendments to the so-called omnibus regulation (extending to all sectors the derogations granted to the milk sector).
James Nicholson (ECR, UK) said that some UTPs had to be addressed and the position of farmers improved. He also spoke of extending the derogations (to competition law) granted to the agricultural sector. Ulrike Müller (ALDE, Germany) warned against reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP). Luke Ming Flanagan (GUE/NGL, Ireland) highlighted the injustice of the CAP: 80% of payments money goes to 27% of farmers who deliver 27% of total production. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)