Brussels, 15/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - The ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Member States of the EU will meet in Brussels on Monday, to discuss the reform of the common market organisation (CMO) for sugar, take stock over lunch of developments with negotiations at the WTO and look into the issue of closing anchovy fishing in the Gulf of Gascony. Margaret Beckett, the British Secretary Of State for Agriculture, will present the working programme of the UK presidency (EUROPE 8989).
Sugar reform: the first "political debate" of the Council on the legislative proposals for the reform of the CMO for sugar (which were adopted by the European Commission on 22 June) will focus on the same three elements (EUROPE 8989) as did last Monday's Special Agricultural Committee: -the voluntary restructuring regime together with a considerable reduction in prices for sugar and sugar beet; -the long-term prospects for the sector (2014/2015); -the level of compensation for sugar beet growers.
In particular, the Commission is proposing a reduction of 39% in sugar prices over two years, compensation for sugar beet growers to a level of 60%, a voluntary restructuring regime and the removal of the intervention (EUROPE 8975). Discussions at the SAC showed that nearly 10 Member States (including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Cyprus and Malta) support the proposals, that three delegations are in two minds (Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia) and that there are six countries which are strongly opposed to the proposals (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Ireland and Finland).
Rural development: the Commission will present the ministers with its document on the EU's strategic orientations for rural development (period 2007-2013), which take the form of a range of options which the Member States may use for their national programmes (EUROPE 8984).
Broiler chickens: the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Markos Kyprianou, is to present the Council with the proposed directive (dating from 31 May), setting minimum standards for the protection of broiler chickens (EUROPE 8959). Essentially, this proposal provides for the reduction of stocking density to 38 kilogrammes per square metre (kg/m2) (compared to an average of 40 kg currently), or to 30 kg/m2 in some cases.
WTO: over lunch, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mariann Fischer Boel, will take stock of agricultural negotiations under the Doha round. At the (restricted) ministerial meeting of the WTO, which was held in Dalian (North Eastern China) from 11 to 13 July, "substantial progress" on the agricultural plank of negotiations was made, thanks to a proposed formula to reduce customs duty for market access, which was presented by the emerging and developing countries of the G20 (such as Brazil, India, South Africa and China...). "I think that things have really gone forward today", said Ms Fischer Boel, a few hours after the meeting (EUROPE 8990).
Anchovies: after the Commission closed fishing in the Gulf of Gascony for three months (July to the end of September), France announced that it wanted to put this dossier to the Council in order to have this decision changed, as it feels that it is too strict (EUROPE 8982). In article 7 of the regulation of December 2002 on the conservation and sustainable exploitation of resources, the Member States affected by an emergency measure decided upon by the Commission may bring the decision of the Commission before the Council within 10 working days of receipt of the notification. The Council, deciding by qualified majority, can take a different decision within one month as of the date on which the matter was brought before it.
At the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) of 8 July, the French delegation confirmed its intentions of getting fishing reopened as of 16 August (or closure for 45 days, to correspond to the fishes' period of ovulation), in light of the opinion of Ifremer (the competent French Institute), together with the creation of a protected nursery zone (in which fishing would be banned) in the Gironda estuary. Spain, the other country in question (which manages 90% of the anchovy quotas), supports the Commission's decision, which is based on the opinion of the International Counsel for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The Commission has already stressed that it would see whether the ban should be reviewed in light of the opinion of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) on the issue, which is due on 15 July.