Brussels, 06/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Friday the European Commission submitted a proposal to the Council aiming to extend the liberalisation of agricultural trade with Lithuania from 1 July 2002. Lithuania follows on Estonia's heels as the second candidate country to have reached such an advanced stage of liberalising "double profit" agriculture trade, aiming to set tariff quotas for sensitive products (like cereals, dairy products, beef, tomatoes and apples) and fully liberalising trade in other products (artichokes, courgettes, pears, prunes, cherries, strawberries, etc). On Tuesday the European Commission will adopt a similar proposal for Latvia. The next country after that will be Hungary since the negotiations were drawn to a close on 25 April (see below).
Products from Lithuania to which zero duty will apply include fresh and frozen beef and offal (2000 tonnes a year); fresh and frozen pork (1800 tonnes); poultry meat and offal (1200 tonnes); concentrated and sweetened milk and dairy cream (6 350 tonnes); lactoserum (2000 tonnes); natural butter (2100 tonnes); cheese and curds (7200 tonnes); poultry eggs (700 tonnes); fresh or frozen tomatoes (400 tonnes); cucumbers (100 tonnes, unlimited as from 1 November 2002); apples (2760 tonnes); durum wheat (25000 tonnes); rye (6000 tonnes); oats (500 tonnes); cereal grains (1000 tonnes); sausages (360 tonnes); and onions (100 tonnes). A 20% import duty will be levied on live cattle (up to 331 000 head of cattle); and a 6% duty will apply to heifers and non-meat cows (up to 7000 head of cattle). The minimum entry price for various fruits will be maintained.
Conclusion of negotiations with Hungary
The Commission has concluded its negotiations with Hungary with a view to substantially improving the existing agriculture concessions and introducing new concessions for cereals, beef and dairy products. The agreement now needs to be drawn up as a proposal to be submitted to the Council. Hungary will benefit from new zero duty quotas, of 120 000 tonnes a year for wheat and 450 000 tonnes for corn. The EU negotiated an increase in its zero duty export quotas for fruit and vegetables (melons, potatoes, tomatoes and onions), beef and poultry. The agreement sets out that both sides will pledge to scrap their export subsidies in various sectors. The new reciprocal concessions will increase the value of bilateral agricultural trade under the free trade system by EUR 700 million, explains the Commission in a press release.