Brussels, 24/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - EU Agriculture Ministers are to meet on Monday in Brussels under the chairmanship of Miguel Arias Canete to hold a public debate on equal opportunities in rural areas, adopt a proposal that renews the potato starch regime for three years, and update on two other dossiers concerning ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin and the geographical denominations of foodstuffs. This is the first Agriculture Council of the new French minister, Hervé Gaymard.
We give below a summary of the points on the not-so-full agenda of this Council, which is to begin around 15h00 with a public debate:
- Equal opportunities: After the public debate, the Council is expected to adopt conclusions prepared by the Special Agriculture Committee (SAC) on the integration of gender equality questions in all Agriculture Council policies, which should recall that equal access to employment for both men and women must be ensured by: - using Community programmes covered by Structural Funds; - updating rural development measures to promote equal conditions and quality of life; - and encouraging Member States to adjust their national legislation in order to achieve these objectives. The only rather "sensitive" paragraph deals with the need to strengthen the participation of women at all decision-making levels. Some countries stressed that this paragraph could leave the door open to positive discrimination (the institution of quotas).
- Potato starch: As the European Parliament gave its opinion on 15 May (consultation procedure) and as there are no major difficulties on this dossier, the Council is expected to approve by qualified majority the Commission's proposal that extends for a further three-year period (from 2002/03 to 2004/05) the current quotas in the potato starch sector (limited to 1.762 million tonnes for all eight producer Member States). We would point out that the Council had discussed this proposal during its meeting in January (see EUROPE of 22 January). Finland, Austria and Sweden should once more request an increase in their national quota (Finland mainly in order to produce paper pulp and increase its export volume), but the Council is expected to pass it over, mainly for budgetary reasons. The aid regime (made of up compensatory payments of EUR 110.54/tonne for potato producers and a premium of EUR 22.25/tonne for starch producers) already costs the Community budget EUR 234 million annually.
- Ethyl alcohol: Pending the opinion of the European Parliament (which should be given during the June plenary session), the Council is only expected to update on progress made on the subject of regulating the market for ethyl alcohol from agricultural origins, a dossier that was discussed many times by SAC experts. A main question still divides the Member States: the Commission (supported by Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) would like to put an end to national aid whereas Germany (and other countries that are sensitive to its problem) is not ready to give up its monopoly in this sector.
- Names of origin and geographical indications: The Council should hold an exchange of views on the Commission's proposal aimed at improving the Community rules for protection of the geographical indications and names of origin of agricultural products and foodstuffs, and ensure better compatibility with the WTO agreement on trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPs). The problems that are posed mainly concern the scope of the regulation: - Germany would not be able to accept exclusion of mineral and spring waters proposed by the Commission, unless the transitional period is increased before the measure takes effect (the Commission would seem willing to accept a longer transition period, from ten to fifteen years, instead of the five years proposed); - France, Italy and Portugal hope salt will be covered by these provisions (something that the Commission refuses); - France also insists that mustard be included in the scope, which should be accepted by the Commission. Other countries, like the United Kingdom, Germany and Ireland, consider too severe the project for elimination within fifteen years of the homonym denominations that do not come under the regulation.
In various points, Germany will speak of the next FAO World Summit on Food, to be held from 10 to 13 June in Rome. France will brief its partners on its concerns about the American "Farm Bill" and above all stress the effect that it will have on the markets (imbalance, trade distortion, etc.) and its importance in the context of trade negotiations under the aegis of the WTO. Finally, Greece will present in turn (after Germany, Italy and Portugal) its reflections on the mid-term revision of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
