Brussels, 23/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Union Agriculture Ministers will dedicate a major part of their meeting, which opens on Monday at 15pm, to the first policy debate over the already controversial package of measures aiming to reform the Common Market Organisation (CMO) for beef. In the context of the present crisis in the European beef market, the Council will first raise the latest developments in terms of the fight against bovine encephalopathy spongiform (BSE) and scrapie. Despite the length of the debates during the last Councils, the Swedish Presidency hopes to complete, that evening, the works of this session.
The debate over the Commission's seven point plan (read EUROPE of 14 February, p.14) promises to be heated. In fact, during the last meeting of the Special Agricultural Committee (SAC), only Austria felt able to subscribe to the Commission proposals, Sweden pointing out that these proposal could be acceptable on conditions of remaining in the financial framework of the Agenda 2000. Certain delegations, including Germany, felt that the aim of improving quality is not clearly defined, while others such as France or Portugal regretted the absence of an expression of Community solidarity in favour of the farmers. The lack of precise rules on the conditions to be respected by the third countries to export towards the Union was also put forward.
The two short-term measures, the proposal not to enforce, in 2001 and in 2002, the ceiling of 350,000 tonnes/year for the purchase by State intervention and the Commission guidelines aiming to replace the purchase for destruction system with a special purchase system, faced reservations from practically all the delegations. Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany fear that by doing away with this ceiling operators will be encouraged to resort to this outlet rather than redirect their production towards extensive quality production. Regarding the special purchasing regime that the Commission hopes to implement from 1 April this year (as soon as countries have proved that they are able to test 100% of cattle over 30 months of age), these four countries refuse for ethical reasons to destroy healthy meat, something they will not be forced to do (see on this point, the comments by the Commission in EUROPE of 17 February, p.8). Furthermore, Sweden, Finland and Austria, which are considered BSE-free and are not forced to apply the current regime, would like to be dispensed from the new measures.
The individualisation of premiums granted to young male cattle has come up against reticence because of the risk of capitalisation (combination) of the premiums and the administrative complexity that this would entail (Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Luxembourg and the Netherlands). Regarding the changes to the conditions for granting the suckler cow premium and the introduction of a minimum threshold for heifers of 20% for the number of animals eligible for the premium, many countries (including France and Germany) explained that such measures could run counter to the aim of a quality production and would be of a discriminatory nature. Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden recommend another solution. In their view, it would be necessary to bring prices down in anticipation of implementation of the provisions of Agenda 2000 and reduce in a linear fashion the right to the premium. Encouragement to extensive production through a reduction from 2 to 1.8 UGB (gross cattle units) of the density factor for receiving the special "male cattle" premium and the suckler cow premium was contingent upon examination by several delegations (including France). Denmark would like a larger reduction. Finally, the establishment of a compulsory limit of 90 heads of cattle per farm in order to benefit from the special premium for male bovines was strongly disputed. Eight countries refuse this limit (Germany, UK, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands). Most delegations are in favour of using set-aside land to produce organic food and plant fodder, but some countries like France and Belgium call on the Commission to go further to meet the Community's supply problem with respect to plant protein. They mainly call for the proposal not to be restricted to traditional organic fodder but to be extended to high protein crops. The other points on the agenda are:
Fight against BSE. Commissioner David Byrne will present ministers with a report on the state of progress of the fight against BSE, mainly on screening tests. Commissioner Franz Fischler, on the other hand, will make a summary of the responses received by the Commission to the questionnaire addressed to Member States on the funding of national aid to stockfarmers. On this last point, the French Agriculture Minister, Jean Glavany, will call on the Commission for Community funding to offset the losses in farmers' incomes. France should be supported in this by Portugal, Ireland and Belgium.
Scrapie in sheep. The Swedish Presidency hopes to have its conclusions on scrapie in sheep adopted. They take account of part of a memorandum presented by Germany during the Agriculture Council session on 29 January, and also of the opinion given by the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) on 8 and 9 February (see EUROPE of 15 February, p.7). The German memorandum calls on the Council to determine whether the measures currently in place for controlling scrapie are sufficient, in particular given the scientific experiments that demonstrate that the BSE agent may be orally transmitted to sheep.
Footh and mouth. The United Kingdom will brief ministers on the developments in the foot and mouth disease within pig farms on its territory.
Food Authority. The Council will hear a Presidency report on the state of progress of work concerning safety of food products, the European Food Safety Authority. In a concern to respect the deadline set by the European Summit of Nice - an operational authority from early 2002 - three meetings were held within the Council working group which examined, article by article, the section of the draft regulation of 8 November last on the Food Authority. Broad consensus was reached on the Authority's main task, that of giving scientific and technical support to the Community's policies and legislative measures. Divergence exists, however, over complementary tasks (such as animal welfare, plant health, GMOs, the working of a rapid warning system). The location of the future Authority has not yet been discussed. More detailed discussions on food safety and the Food Authority are to be held at the Internal Market Council of 12 March.
Agricultural negotiations at WTO. Mr Fischler will present the first reactions of the other WTO members on the Community document presented in Geneva, as well as the future work in this field. No debate, however, is foreseen at this stage.
The Italian delegation is expected, moreover, to invite the Commission to propose compulsory labelling of food for animals in order to show the presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). It will also discuss the problems that it encounters concerning aid to young farmers in the context of rural development measures.
The European Farmers' Coordination (EFC) will be organising, from 14h00 on, a demonstration on the future of beef and veal producers faced by crisis.