Brussels, 25/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Agriculture and Fisheries ministers of the Member States of the EU, meeting on 28 February under the chairmanship of their Luxembourg counterpart Fernand Boden, are set to reach political agreement on sending EU boats to parts of Asia hit by the tsunami if necessary (EUROPE of 25 February, p.15, on the opinion of the European Parliament and of 19 February on the Council experts' discussion). As well as a large number of points under “any other business” raised by the delegations, the Council will hold a exploratory debate on the new European Rural Development Fund (2007-2013- and rules for the funding of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) during the same period (EUROPE of 16 February, p.12).
The ministers are also set to adopt a technical proposal reinforcing import rules for wood products into the EU. This proposal aims to postpone by one year (to March 2006) the provisions of a 2004 directive stipulating that wooden packaging must be made from stripped roundwood. This requirement, which has met with strong opposition from the US, was designed to fight the introduction of organisms which are harmful to vegetation. The Council will also take note of information from the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Markos Kyprianou, on Community decisions taken after the confirmation of a first case of BSE in a goat which was slaughtered in France in 2002 (EUROPE of 4 February). Mr Kyprianou will also report back on his recent visit to Moscow where he discussed trade problems between the EU and Russia in the phytosanitary and veterinary fields.
Food safety, health, sugar, tobacco, olive oil and cereals: Under “any other business”, the Dutch delegation wishes to raise the issue of the bird 'flu which is still ravaging parts of South-East Asia, with the possible risk that the virus could mutate, leading to a pandemic. The Dutch delegation will call for support to the competent international organisations.
On the increase in the number of cases of obesity among young people in Europe, the German delegation will call on the Commission to explain where it is in its plans to launch a “European action plan on food, physical activity and health”. The Commission will be invited to specify the role of the Member States in this initiative and to present the Green Paper on food and health as soon as possible.
Germany will also raise the issue of the WTO panel which is set to take position at the end of June on a complaint brought by the US, Canada and Argentina against the EU's “moratorium” on sales of GMOs.
The German delegation, supported by the Italian delegation, will voice its criticisms on the many derogations which exist in the field of food labelling, with specific reference to the obligation to indicate the place of origin of pre-packaged foods. Germany will call on the Commission to present the state of play in its work on improving information on the origin of foods and to propose solutions taking greater account of consumers' need for information.
Spain will discuss possible follow-ups to the meeting on 24 January between the Agriculture Council and the ACP and least-developed countries (LDCs) which export sugar (EUROPE of 25 January, p.9).
Spain will also reiterate the difficulties it has faced with the implementation of the reform of April 2004 of the tobacco sector, especially on the transfer of quota from one producer to another and the possibility of applying different levels of decoupling depending on the region and the variety of tobacco. In order to avoid “premium races” in the sector, Italy will call for the option of being able to adopt measures to control the quantities produced to be adopted.
Italy and Greece will ask the EU to pay its voluntary contribution of 4 million EUR to the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC), which will be used to fund actions to promote olive oil. This Community contribution was suspended in 2002 by the Commission following the discovery of management and audit problems on the part of the IOOC. The Italian delegation will also discuss problems implementing the new mechanism for aid to the shell fruit sector.
The Czech delegation will discuss the crisis in its cereals sector (steep drop in prices) and call on the Commission to take emergency measures to remedy the situation. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria and Slovakia feel that the measures the Commission has so far adopted in the cereals sectors have failed to resolve the crisis of the so-called “enclaved” countries. These states will thus call on the Commission to take all measures possible to stabilise the cereals market forthwith.