The Council of the EU is soon expected to authorise the European Commission to vote conditionally, on behalf of the EU, in favour of extending the 1992 International Sugar Agreement for a period of 2 years, until 31 December 2021. This extension will have to be decided at the 55th session of the International Sugar Council, on 19 July, in Cairns, Australia.
The Commission intends, in the event that an amendment to the Agreement requested by the Union is not previously approved at the same session, to oppose the decision on the extension of the Agreement being taken by consensus and to abstain in a subsequent vote on this point.
In 2015, the EU began talks within the International Sugar Organisation (ISO) to "modernise" the agreement, which still give each of its 52 members a number of votes based on the world sugar situation as it stood in 1992. As a result, the distribution of votes no longer reflects the reality of the world market for this product and the Union's financial contribution - around €500,000 planned for both 2020 and 2021 - is no longer representative of its relative position on this market. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)