EU agriculture ministers were divided on Monday 15 July on measures to help the sugar sector after the end of production quotas in 2017. Some countries have made a link between the sugar sector and the outcome of the negotiations on the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement (see other news).
The Agriculture Council confirmed the positions of the experts from the Member States who participated in the drafting of the recommendations of the High Level Group on Sugar (see EUROPE 12295/8).
Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan recalled that the recommendations of this group came from the Member States and clarified that only three of the recommendations are addressed to the Commission (on coupled support, emergency authorisations for neonicotinoids and trade practices).
The High Level Group on Sugar discussed various topics and was divided on optional coupled support and the use of emergency authorisations for neonicotinoids.
At the Council, several ministers (including those of Italy, Spain, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovenia) defended coupled support for beet, while Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark denounced the negative effects of such coupled support (distortion of competition).
Emergency authorisations for the use of neonicotinoids have been defended by several Member States (Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Poland, Spain, Romania), while France, the Netherlands and Germany, in particular, have requested that their prohibition be implemented.
Trade. Spain has asked to monitor relations with non-Member States, including India. Portugal considered that trade liberalisation has been incomplete and asymmetrical (because only the beet market has been liberalised and not the sugar cane market). Portugal has made a link with the sugar concessions offered to Mercosur countries. Belgium, Romania (concessions offered on sugar are not acceptable), France and Slovenia have also made this link with the concessions granted by the EU to the Mercosur countries.
Some delegations called for greater transparency, such as Germany, Italy (at a time when prices are being determined) and Denmark (but there should be no return to a rigid ‘reporting’ exercise as in the era of quotas). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)