Taormina, 22/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - Proposing aid decoupling in the tobacco sector and a plan to restructure the sector, the European Commission hopes to programme the end of aid to tobacco producers (see details of the proposal in EUROPE of 16 September 2003, p.12), Community sources say. On the fringe of the informal meeting of EU Farm Ministers in Taormina (in Sicily), the Italian President-in-Office of the Council, Giovanni Alemanno, reacted strongly to the strategy presented in Franz Fischler's communication on reform of Mediterranean products that the Commission is to adopt on Tuesday. Mr Alemanno pointed out that he would meet Romano Prodi on 29 September (the day of the Agriculture Council in Brussels) to tell him all the reasons why he is opposed to this stance: "the criticism (on aid to tobacco producers) does not come from the agriculture side, Mr Fischler's DG, but from the Commission as a whole and mainly from the DG on Health and Consumer Protection", Mr Alemanno recalled, visibly seriously concerned.
"It seems acquired (on the Commission side) that subsidies to tobacco producers are to be abolished, this being justified by measures against tobacco addiction", Mr Alemanno said. He felt that this was not the right strategy to follow as "the EU is in a position to become a net tobacco importer". He recalled the "very strict measures" that the EU has taken to combat smoking, and mainly against passive smoking. While being "politically very shrewd", the Commission text "signs the death warrant for tobacco production in the EU", the Deputy General Secretary of the international tobacco growers union (UNITAB), François Vedel, told EUROPE. Mr Vedel explained that, with aid decoupling, it will no longer be in farmers' interest to continue producing tobacco, given the cost of production. In his view, the financial allocation foreseen (in the context of rural development measures) to encourage producers to follow other roads than tobacco production is "insufficient". The 400,000 seasonal jobs generated will be "left on the sidelines", he warned, specifying moreover that UNITAB will meet Mr Alemanno on 29 September, on the fringe of the Agriculture Council.
On Commissioner David Byrne's side, a timetable is being sought to abolish subsidies to growing tobacco, whereas, on Mr Fischler's side, assurance is being given that nothing will be changed or added to the text of Mr Fischler's communication on reform of the tobacco sector. Therefore, with or without more or less marked political sights in mind, decoupling will have the effect of encouraging producers to convert to crops other than tobacco, it is stressed on Mr Fischler's side. The latter explained to the press in Taormina on Sunday that the Commission had taken the commitment to conduct a study on the possibility for conversion of tobacco producers. "We have carried out the study and I believe there are possibilities for conversion", Mr Fischler explained, specifying that, along the lines of the decisions on reform of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Commission had warned it would propose decoupling of aid in the tobacco sector.
In one of the paragraphs in the communication on reform of Mediterranean products, Mr Fischler announced what this sector had to expect: "In the short term, the cultivation, in the EU of the least profitable varieties of tobacco had to stop. The transfer of current bonuses for tobacco to a single payment per plantation will encourage (this does not currently cover variable production costs, which can be shifted to crop production that generates higher income per hectare) will undeniably encourage producers to convert in the short term to other land uses".