Brussels, 20/03/2006 (Agence Europe) -At the meeting of agriculture ministers on 20 March, the European Commission announced that it was planning Community co-funding for support measures for the poultry market. These measures, which will take the form of incentives to reduce poultry production, will help farmers to overcome the crisis of falling consumption since the bird flu virus appeared. Concrete measures will be put forward at the forthcoming meeting of the Agriculture Council, on 25 April.
This is the first time that the Commission has publicly agreed to change the rules in force, allowing new support measures for the sector. Up until now, it has simply increased the export "refunds" for chicken exports, the only mechanism currently provided for by the rules of the common market organisation (CMO) for poultry, and examined State aid planned or paid by certain Member States (France and Italy so far). Certain exceptional market support measures have been authorised, but only when hygiene restrictions apply on the free movement of goods (conditions which do not currently seem to have been met). The idea is that such measures will be authorised should sales levels drop dramatically.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Fischer Boel, pointed out that the EU had increased its export refunds (in January, in February and in March). "But we must now come to the understanding that this type of measure does not allow us to fight drops in consumption and falling prices", she acknowledged at a press conference on Monday. She added that she was to propose an extension to the scope of application of article 14 of the regulation on the CMO for the sector, in order to authorise special market support measures in case of a price and consumption crisis (and not only, as is currently the case, in case of veterinary restrictions. Ms Fischer Boel announced that the Community budget could partly finance the (up to 50%) market support measures taken in the Member States.
The Commission is planning to present its proposed regulation to the Agriculture Council of 25 April, further to the adoption of the text by the College. The European Parliament will return its consultative opinion on the text under the emergency procedure. Ms Fischer Boel was not in a position to confirm which instruments would be made available to the Member States, but did state that these needed to be the most "rational" instruments possible. She suggested limiting production "from the start", by targeting hatching eggs and chicks. As the cycle of poultry meat production is very short (42 days), it should, she stated, be possible to "act quickly". The Commission also pointed out that the Member States could use the options open to them under the heading of State aid: national rescue and restructuring aid to companies in difficulty (Treasury advances) and "de minimis" aid of 3000 EUR per annum and per holding (which, within this upper limit, does not have to be notified to the Commission).
In answer to questions from the press, Ms Fischer Boel said that the Commission was prepared to agree to co-funding to all measures deemed appropriate by the Member States. She underlined the importance of "retaining a case-by-case approach", because situations differ greatly from one country to the next. Amongst other things, she stated that abnormal poultry stocks exceeded 50,000 tonnes in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, whereas other countries are not experiencing these problems.
Member States' almost unanimous call for Commission to act
With the exception of their Swedish and Danish counterparts, all of the agriculture ministers called on the Commission to review the CMO for the poultry meat market, in order to support their farmers in crisis. The Commission recognised the fact that the tools available to it today are inadequate to tackle the full scope of the crisis in the poultry sector, and promised to present a proposed revision of the CMO at the forthcoming Council on 25 April. The Member States took the view that the EU should participate in the funding of operations to re-establish the balance of the market. Among the measures called for by the Member States are: -aid for private storage; -aid to reduce supply (incentives to extend building depopulation); -provisions to compensate for operations to destroy hatching eggs and breeding animals; -measures to compensate for stocks which can no longer be sold and for anticipated poultry slaughter (the precipitated closure of export markets). Furthermore, several countries call for Community provisions to be taken in terms of labelling to inform the consumer about the origin of poultry meat. France and other countries called on the Commission immediately to launch a communication and awareness campaign, in order to reassure the citizens about consuming poultry meat in Europe, but the Commission has its doubts as to whether such an initiative would be useful.