Brussels, 19/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture has unanimously adopted the report by British Labour member Gordon Adam on reform of the sheep and goat livestock sector. It calls for the new standard ewe premium to be fixed at 30 euros, and not 21 as the European Commission proposes. For goats, the premium should be fixed at 25 instead of 16.8 euros. The parliamentary committee also considers that the farmers earning additional income from the marketing of products from ewe or goats' milk must benefit from the same amounts as other sheep farmers, that is, 30 euros and not the reduced amount (16.9 euros) proposed by the European Commission. The report, to be voted in plenary next week in Strasbourg, also calls for the additional premium for farmers in less favoured regions to be increased from 7 to 9 euros.
The rapporteur welcomes the efforts made by the European Commission to simplify the aid regime, in this case by substituting a flat rate premium for the current compensatory payment. He refuses, however, to allow the Commission to make savings at the cost of the farmers. Mr Adam had, nonetheless, proposed lower amounts for these premiums, i.e. 25 euro for ewes and 20 for goats.