Brussels, 18/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the Agriculture Ministers are to meet for the last time under the chairmanship of their French colleague Jean Glavany. The sitting will begin around 15h00 with the public debate on the general principles of food safety and the role of the future European Food Authority. Work will continue with the examination of: 1) rules for prevention and the fight against transmissible spongiform encephalopathies 5TSE) and, 2) the amendment of the 1991 directive on scrapie. The Council is expected to reach a common position on the regulation concerning the fight against TSE, which is the subject of codecision procedure with the European Parliament.
The other points on the agenda pertain to:
Material for the vegetative propagation of the vine. The ministers will discuss the proposed directive, amended by the European Parliament, which aims at greater harmonisation of the rules for the marketing of basic seed vines in the context of the internal market. The proposal, which also guarantees the free movement of genetically modified propagation material, is still very challenged in Italy and it is not very likely that the Council will, under these conditions, adopt it.
Solidarity funds for pig farmers. The Council will examine the Commission's proposal aimed at authorising the establishment of national compensatory aid funds for pig farmers. The proposal, which provides for funds entirely financed by farmers, was highly contested by the Parliament, which is hoping for a mechanism jointly financed at 50% by the Community, in order to encourage farmers to reduce their production during the crisis period. Six Member States (United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and Finland) are opposed to any system of this kind. France and four other countries (Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Austria) prefer a Community co-funding solution. The Presidency will probably note the lack of a majority for the Commission's proposal and will seek support from its partners for the adoption of a declaration that commits the Commission to formulate alternative proposals for fighting against crises on the pigmeat market, with improved provisions for production and measures to promote demand for pigmeat.
Sugar CMO. The Council will resume examination of reform of the common market organisation for sugar on which the Parliament should give its opinion in the spring. The Commission's proposal, which mainly provides for a permanent reduction in the annual quota of 115,000 tonnes (EUROPE of 5 October, p.13), enjoys the support of Sweden, the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Netherlands, as well as Italy, to a lesser extent. The ten other countries are in favour of renewing the current system for five years, which is the subject of a French "counter proposal" on which the Presidency will seek to show there is a majority.
Banana CMO. The Council will hold a discussion on the "first come first served" solution which aims to find a solution to the dispute over bananas (see EUROPE of 5 October, p.9). During its meeting on 13 December, the Special Agriculture Committee noted that the proposal does not pose any major technical difficulties. Some delegations, however, expressed concern about the management of the system, mainly as far as customs are concerned. The Parliament gave its opinion last week (see EUROPE of 15 December, p.13).
National aid to distillation. Germany, Italy and France will present to the Council their respective dossiers for the authorisation of complementary national aid schemes.