Brussels, 27/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Monday the vast majority of Agricultural Ministers from the EU's Member States criticised the European Commission's proposed legislation for the mid-term review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). With the exception of Sweden, the United Kingdom and Denmark, all other Member States expressed strong reservations about the proposal to decouple aid from production. Even Germany felt that it ran the risk of fixing in stone the imbalances between sectors , while the other countries opposing this approach (Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Finland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria) highlighted the risks of lowering production. The proposed manner of cutting direct aid (gradually and in tranches) in order to release funds has also been rejected by most Member States. Even the United Kingdom argues that the Commission's approach was unfair, prioritising the application of a linear reduction, with the same rate for everyone. The UK also criticised the breakdown used for the redistribution of funds which it said would reinforce historic inequality. Europe will return to this.
The General Affairs Council also managed to get rid of any reservations expressed by France and Ireland on the Commission's WTO negotiating document, leading to the following amendments in the paper: instead of the Commission getting rid of export subsidies, the Council refers to a phasing out of these subsidies; instead of the products mentioned (wheat, oil seed, tobacco, olive oil) in this commitment, it is now planned that the subsidies for certain products are reduced. EUROPE will be returning to this issue).