Brussels, 28/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - After their debate on equal opportunities (see EUROPE yesterday page 8) and discussion of the report of at least three weeks of proposals on the mid-term amendment of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (see above), EU Agriculture Ministers adopted the regulation prolonging the potato starch aid system for a further three years and examined two other cases - ethyl alcohol and labels of origin for agricultural products.
- Potato starch: through a qualified majority (only the Finnish delegation abstained) the Council adopted the regulation on potato starch to take effect from 1 July (date of the beginning of the new marketing year), with the following provisions: - three-year extension (2002/003, 2003/2004, 2004/2005) of the current quotas for the eight Member states producers of potato starch, or a total of 1.762 million tonnes (Germany 656,298 tones; the Netherlands 507,403 tonnes; France, 265,354 tonnes; Denmark, 168,215 tonnes, Sweden 62, 066 tonnes; Austria, 47,691 tonnes; Finland 53, 178 tonnes; Spain, 1,943 tonnes); - a compensatory payment of 110.54 euro/tonnes for potato producers (by tonne of starch contained in potatoes delivered to fecula works) and a premium of 22.25 euro/tonne paid to fecula works (on condition that the manufacturer has paid the minimum to the farmers of potatoes intended for fecula works); - a Community budget of 234 million euro a year is earmarked for this spending.
Worth noting that a declaration by the Finnish delegation, to which the Austrian delegation is associated, will be added to the minutes, in which it wants its request for an increase in the quota of potato starch to be taken account of in the next Council decision on these quotas. For its part, the Commission will present a report at latest on 30 September 204 on the allocation of quotas in the Community, accompanied by appropriate proposals. This report will have to take account of possible changes to payments to potato farmers, as well as market developments in the potato starch sector. At the end of 2004, the Council will have to decide on the new distribution of quotas for the following three years. You may also recall that the minimum price and payments to producers of potatoes will have to be adapted in case of a decision, in the framework of the mid-term examination of Agenda 20000, of a reduction of intervention prices for cereals.
- Ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin: The Council took note of the state of work as set out by the Presidency (see EUROPE of 9 May, p.14). It instructed the Special Agricultural Committee (SAC) to continue work in the matter, including on the question of national aid, so as to finalise the issue at the June session, in the light of the opinion of the European Parliament also expected in June.
- Protection of geographic indications and names of origin: the Council took note with satisfaction of the progress made in the SAC over the Commission's proposal and urged the Committee to pursue its work with a view to closing the issue once the European Parliament's opinion is available (in the autumn).
- World food Summit in Rome (10-13 June, 2002): as miscellaneous, the German and Swedish delegations, backed by the Belgian, Greek, Italian and Dutch delegations, drew the Council's attention to the next World food Summit organised under the auspices of the FAO, five years after that of 1996 and briefed it on the state of the Summit's preparedness. The Swedish delegation stressed the importance of this meeting and urged agriculture ministers to show the political will at the Summit regarding the goal set in 1996 of reducing by half the number of people suffering from hunger in the world, by 2015. The Presidency underpinned the need to have common and united position in the Community in the framework of the preparatory work for this meeting. The German delegation also presented the results of a "Policy Against Hunger" workshop, organised in Berlin on 22-23 May and which in particular concerned the drawing up of a voluntary code of conduct on the right of the individual to feed themselves.
