Brussels, 28/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Thursday, the Agriculture Ministers did not manage to break the deadlock over the issue of ethyl alcohol due to deep divisions between the European Commission and four Member states (Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom), on the one hand, and Germany (backed by other delegations), on the other, over what to do about national aid. In addition, Germany drew the Council and Commission's attention to the need to define measures to avoid contamination of traditional crops by GMOs.
Here is a summary of these last issues dealt with by the Council (see yesterday's EUROPE pages 6 and 10 for the other issues):
Ethyl alcohol: while explaining that he had no "intention of putting an end to the German monopoly over alcohol" ("Branntweinmonopol"), Commissioner Franz Fischler again refused to abolish, as suggested by the Spanish Presidency, Article 10 of the proposal relating to State aid. He explained that Germany could continue to support its distilleries using the current provisions on State aid, notably to cover ecological costs or in the framework of rural development plans. Furthermore, he added, the Commission "agrees that small distilleries, which not only produce crude alcohol but also spirits sold directly to the place of exploitation, may benefit from de minimis rules (franchises)that apply to agricultural products". At a press conference, German Minister Renate Kunast recalled that once Mr. Fischler had taken a stance, it was difficult to budge him. She did, however, add, that "as the Danish Presidency will have many subjects to deal with", room should be found for a compromise.
You may recall that the Council has instructed the Special Agriculture Committee (SAC) to actively pursue its work with a view to seeking, with the Commission, a solution to the problems still in suspense..
GMOs: as miscellaneous, the German delegation (backed by the Austrian and Italian) drew the Council and Commission's attention to the content of an impact-study on GMOs in farming. Acknowledging before the press that there was not a majority in Council to indefinitely extend the moratorium, Ms. Kunast wondered about methods that could be introduced to avoid contamination of traditional seeds by genetically modified ones. She considered that it was of utmost importance to define the acceptable threshold of the presence of GMOs in seeds. Another "decisive" issue, according to Kunast: the cost of these measures for farms. According to her, farmers growing GMOs should foot the bill. For his part, Commissioner David Byrne stressed the "sectoral and forward-looking" nature of the study, that indicates that an increase of 10% to 50% of genetically modified crops would be accompanied by a growing proportion of traces of GMOs in traditional seeds.
Feta: the Council was unable to rule on the proposal aimed at including Greek feta on the Community list of protected names of origin (PNOs). Whence the Commission has the right to adopt this proposal on the stances of Member States that were reaffirmed at the meting (see EUROPE of 21 June). According to a Commission source, the latter does not fear losing once more if a second appeal to the Court of justice is lodged by Member states believing that feta cannot benefit from a PNO, as it would have taken account of the first ruling passed down in March 1999. Indeed, it considers that these countries would lose as, not only has it asked the opinion of the scientific committee, but also because now it proposes that only certain regions of Greece may benefit from the product's protection. You may recall that once the Commission has adopted this proposal, the Member States other than Greece will have a five-year transition period either to change the name, or stop producing the cheese.
Fruit and vegetables and farm insurance: the Council adopted Presidency conclusions on two subjects, which are fruit and vegetables and farm insurance. Only the Danish delegation spoke out against the text, for budgetary reasons.
Miscellaneous (nitrofen, tobacco and cereals): Germany briefed the Council and Commission on measures that have been taken following the discovery of nitrofen residue. It stipulated that a three-phase approach had been taken with the aim of putting an end to the contamination: ban on the placing into circulation of products of companies manufacturing animal feed (in addition to those of farms concerned by the contamination); - sampling of the products of the companies concerned; analysis of samples taken to decide whether or not to lift the ban. In answer to a question by the Belgian delegation, Ms. Kunast said that 500 companies had been concerned by the ban and that only four of them were still in quarantine. Furthermore, the Commission told ministers that the report on the functioning of the aid scheme to the tobacco sector would be available in September.
The Austrian delegation, supported by the French, pointed out the problems currently faced by the cereal sector and called on the Commission to present a proposal to the management committee to re-levy customs duties on cereals imported from the Black Sea area and called for a report on the application of double profit agreements signed with candidate countries on the situation up until 1 January 2003 (the agreements are expected to come into force on 1 July 2002). Concerning low-cost cereal imports, Fischler said that his institutions would consider setting up another trade protection system, saying that a special management procedure might be introduced in order to assure proper management of the cereals market with a view to the agreements with candidate countries.