Brussels, 30/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - At its meeting next Tuesday, the European Commission will pass a proposal aiming to simplify the common organisation of the market in goat and sheep meat by introducing a fixed annual premium for farmers.
The current premium system used a basic price each marketing year to calculate the value of the sheep premium which is "seasonalised" for sheep carcasses (i.e. which takes account of changes in the price of lamb/mutton on the market). The single premium that the Commission is planning to introduce is expected to be around EUR 21 per animal for lamb farmers, and 80% of this value for sheep milk farmers. EUR 21 is similar to the amount of the variable premium in recent years. An advantage of the simplification is that it would eliminate unexpected shocks to the budget since expenditure would be known in advance. Moreover, by separating aid schemes from production, the scheme would be brought closer in line with WTO rules. The Commission also intends to maintain the current premium quota scheme and set the premium per sheep from often disadvantaged mountain areas at EUR 7.
The current Regulation (dating back to September 1989, amended in 1993) distinguishes between two types of farmer - those selling sheep milk or products made from sheep milk (known as "lean" lamb producers) and those rearing sheep for meat (known as "heavy" lamb producers). The premium for lean lambs is more than 20% less than for heavy lambs. The "rural world" premium is paid in the form of set amounts for farms in mountainous areas and underprivileged areas.