The fourth round of negotiations between the EU Council and the European Parliament on strengthening the position of farmers in the food supply chain will take place on 5 March, under the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU.
At the meeting of Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture on Monday 12 January, the rapporteur on this dossier, Céline Imart (EPP, French), felt that progress had been made at the last trilogue on 10 December, particularly with regard to producer organisations by destination, and the alignment of the regime applicable to producer organisations in the dairy sector with that in force in other sectors (see EUROPE 13770/6). Parliament has also made satisfactory progress on the mediation mechanism between farmers and their first buyers, she said.
However, she deplored the fact that the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU had shown itself to be “not very open” to the additions made by Parliament that were not initially included in the European Commission’s proposal. This was particularly the case for origin labelling via marketing standards, European preference in public procurement, and the re-evaluation of intervention price reference thresholds. “These issues will have to be re-examined with the Cyprus Presidency (of the Council of the EU, Editor’s note)”, she stressed.
There are still two major sticking points: firstly, the question of the opt-out (derogations) for the milk sector from the obligation to sign contracts, and secondly, the question of meat designations.
On the first point, the Danish Presidency took a firm stance and did not accept any move towards the Parliament’s position, believing that it was not desirable to exclude the dairy sector from the application of the contractualisation obligation, explained Mrs Imart. With regard to the protection of meat names, the Danish Presidency has shown a “total lack of openness” towards Parliament’s proposals and mandate, she regretted.
Parliament wants to reserve the names ‘steak’, ‘cutlet’, ‘sausage’ or ‘hamburger’ exclusively for products containing meat. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)