Brussels, 18/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - By adopting with 107 votes against 13 (and 8 abstentions) its opinion on the common market organisation (CMO) for the sugar sector (rapporteur Jean-Paul Bastian, (France, Group of Diverse activities), the European Economic and Social Committee moved for the extension of the "sugar" regulation until the expiry in 2006 (instead of 2002-2003 as proposed by the European Commission). It insists for the maintaining of the provisions relating to the system for the reimbursing of storage costs, consider unnecessary the reduction in quotas and considers that the financial provisions relating to the first 600,000 tonnes of sugar used in the chemical industry have no reason to be modified. Finally, the Committee calls to be associated with the studies that the Commission intends starting for the analysis, notably, the criticisms made against the present system, the mergers in the food processing industry and the transmissibility of price changes between the producer and consumer.
The rapporteur had notably underlined that "the sugar regime was generally functioning satisfactorily and that the Berlin commitments (Agenda 2000), particularly the budget framework, must be combined with". During the debate, Ann Davidson, (UK, group of Diverse activities), on behalf of consumers and other members who had tabled amendments, "supported the Commission's approach of a two-year period so that sugar could be included in the scheduled mid-term review of Agenda 2000, above all to involve the future new Member States more effectively", and made reference "to the Court of Auditors criticisms concerning management of the regime, which encourages a review of the system". On the other hand, for other members and for the rapporteur, "sugar does not pose major problems for enlargement"; they also emphasised that "the Court of Auditors' report had had not yet been published officially and deserved to be studied in greater depth at a later date in the context of the planned study". To conclude, Jean-Paul Bastian insisted on the fact that "the functioning of the quota regime and the financing through production levies have enabled to fully satisfy internal demand, to maintain the stable flow of exports, to respect the EU's commitments to the WTO and to start the EU enlargement negotiations with candidate countries from Central and Eastern Europe.