Brussels, 14/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mariann Fischer Boel, struggled to put the MEPs' minds at ease over the proposals made on 22 June on the reform of the common market organisation (CMO) for sugar. The UK Presidency and the European Commission hoped to obtain an agreement on this dossier at the Agriculture-Fisheries Council of 22 November, in order to be in a better position ahead of the ministerial conference of the WTO in Hong Kong in December. However, there is a danger that the European Parliament will not be in a position to take a stance on the sugar reform before the end of the year.
On Tuesday, Ms Fischer Boel defended her proposals before the committee on agriculture, starting by acknowledging the need to improve the image of the planned restructuring fund. On the problem of imports, which was raised by many MEPs (particularly at the hearing of last July on sugar: EUROPE 8991), the Commissioner stressed that it was out of the question to retract the "Everything But Arms" initiative, which will allow the European sugar market to be opened up to the least-developed countries (LDC) in 2009. She is convinced that a reformed sugar CMO would allow imports to be managed. According to data available to the Commission, sales of sugar from the LDCs in Europe are unlikely to exceed a volume of 2.2 million tonnes, which would leave the field open for European production of 12.2 million tonnes, said Ms Fischer Boel. In order to combat the risk of fraud (triangular trade), the Commission is working on tightening up the rules of origin, she pointed out. Despite the opposition of many Member States and members of the European Parliament, the Commission justified the proposed reduction of the sugar price by 39%. Ms Fischer Boel underlined the need for the EU to go to the negotiating table of the WTO in Hong Kong "with a clear perspective of the future of its sugar sector", and called on the EP to return its opinion in enough time to "allow us to respect this deadline". According to a provisional timetable, the Parliamentary committee on agriculture is not due to take position until 29 November on the draft by its rapporteur, Jean-Claude Fruteau (PES, France). If the Parliamentary committee does not vote on its report until the end of November, then the opinion of the EP (which is only consultative, but obligatory, before the Council of Ministers can formally adopt a new regulation) will be ready in January 2006 at best, allowing time for amendments to be tabled and texts to be translated.
Many MEPs once again criticised the proposals for reform. Maria Esther Herranz Garcia (EPP-ED, Spain) and Maria Isabel Salinas Garcia (PES, Spain) criticised the job losses likely to stem from it. Ms Salinas Garcia felt that the compensation of 60% to be paid to operators leaving the sector was not enough, stressing that in most cases, their move into other crops, such as cereals, was too uncertain. Albert Dess (EPP-ED, Germany) describe the reform as a disaster for European sugar beet producers with no future, and called on the Commission to state clearly which Member States would continue to produce sugar after the reform. Only Niels Busk (ALDE, Denmark) supported the Commission's proposal, for which he calls for swift implementation.