In a letter addressed to the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Phil Hogan, on Friday 20 July, 19 MEPs of mainly Italian nationality, call for the immediate triggering of private storage aid for sugar.
One of the signatories, Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy), the Vice Chair of the Parliamentary agriculture committee explained that in this sector “countries of Southern Europe, including Italy, have been experiencing a serious market crisis with prices below 25% of the reference prices set out by the EU” (see EUROPE 12023). He asserts that the situation has been “aggravated by the behaviour of Northern European produces applying ‘predatory’ prices to exclude Southern market partners”.
In their letter, the MEPs also call for “a measure to rebalance the European sugar market by assessing the possibility of re-activating a restructuring fund to permanently adapt to European production to market requirements”.
During the Agriculture Council on 18 June in Luxembourg, Phil Hogan said that he was aware of the situation on the sugar markets and the concerns of the sector. Nonetheless, according to the latter, it would not be appropriate to take measures “at this early stage of the transition to a post-quota world”. At the end of September 2017, the EU abolished its sugar production quotas (see EUROPE 11874). According to the Commissioner, any intervention for the moment, “would be off-message” now that the EU market is being driven by supply and demand signals.