Brussels, 13/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - David Byrne, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, and his colleague, Franz Fischler, responsible for agriculture and fishing, concluded, on Monday, a year-long process of strategic dialogue on ways to reform agriculture and food policy in Europe. During the last round table on the subject, they presented a range of avenues that could be taken to achieve reform. "The federating themes of our long dialogue (…) were the development of an integrated quality approach at every stage of the agricultural and food production process, and consumer awareness of the importance of quality. The challenge we must raise now consists in transposing this into reality, in political and legislative terms", explained Mr Fischler. In concrete terms, suggestions could be made with a view to the mid-term report of Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), rural development policies and the implementation of the White Paper on food safety. Mr Byrne said the consumer must receive "clear and unambiguous" information and that the "policy and legislation will be developed to give effect to this clear consumer message".
In Mr Fischler's opinion, the successive round tables, geared to concrete action that could be implemented in the field of agriculture, food policy and information, have shown that "we need the whole food chain and its stakeholders to assist and support farmers to develop quality production. It would be a challenge to envisage under rural development policies schemes which give incentives to quality production".
Regarding agriculture, the round tables have made it possible to identify the strengthening of rural development policies (the second pillar of CAP) as a top priority. Discussions showed that more could be done in this field. The Commission therefore considers that, just as rural development policies help farmers to implement environmental programmes, similar programmes could be envisaged to stimulate and encourage the application of quality norms. Such programmes would accompany organic farming, strengthen the multifunctional nature of agriculture (a polyvalent, sustainable and competitive agriculture present throughout Europe, able to maintain the countryside, conserve nature and make a key contribution to the vitality of rural areas) and support the commercial initiatives of small and traditional farmers.
As far as food policies are concerned, one of the essential conclusions is that the setting in place of the European Food Safety Authority is a major priority and a means to restore consumer confidence. Transparency in all aspects of the food chain was considered as a sine qua non to underscore consumer confidence. On the basis of the fact that the consumer demands more and more reliable information, mainly through labelling, the Commission intends, in close cooperation with representatives of the Member States, consumers, the industry and retail trade, to engage in an evaluation of the labelling legislation with a view to modernising and possibly simplifying it. This effort, which will mainly aim at the adequacy and consistency of the existing provisions with the objectives of labelling, will also include a review of the opportunity of complementing existing provisions, on origin labelling and nutritional labelling, improving the overall clarity of labelling, and providing information through alternative means of information. The Commission also plans to develop a legislative proposal covering "nutritional claims", "functional claims" and "health claims". Food with added nutrients are attracting increasing consumer interest, and the Commission plans to develop legislation in this area. Legislative proposals will be the subject of wide consultation among the parties interested before being finalised. After the importance taken by the theme of novelty foods and new food processes, the Commission also announced that it would publish an information paper on this subject in the near future.
Finally, the Commission hopes to develop more dialogue with the parties concerned. This is why it will soon be proposing to reorganise the former advisory committees in the field of foodstuffs and veterinary issues. The new advisory committee will deal with matters relating to food safety and ensure better structured and global dialogue, as well as consultation of all sectors responsible for the different links in the food chain. The Commission also hopes to encourage private partnerships between the various actors of the food chain in order to intensify cooperation between them and with consumers. Furthermore, it considers that regular review of food-related issues by the EU consumers' committee would be useful. Thus, a round table on food and agriculture, organised by the Commission, may meet at regular intervals, every two years for example, in order to examine how the situation is developing.