Brussels, 02/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - The Committee of Professional Agricultural Associations in the EU (Copa) and the General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives in the EU (Cogeca) believe that the new draft legislation on agriculture of the American Administration (“Farm Bill”) “completely goes against” the objective of current negotiations at the WTO, which is to reduce agricultural subsidies that create trade distortion (see EUROPE 9355 for the objections of the European Commission). The organisations stress that the United States Bill is 5 billion dollars more than what would have been spent if the “Farm Bill” had been extended. However, according to the American Secretary of State for Agriculture, Mike Johanns, this new legislation will help to save 10 billion dollars compared to the costs of the 2002 agriculture law (not counting disaster support).
“Either the United States are not serious when they say that they want an agreement at the WTO, or they want one which will be to the detriment of all other farmers in the world with the exception of their own”, state the Presidents of Copa and Cogeca, Rudolf Schwarzböck and Donal Cashman respectively, in a press release published on Thursday 1 February. “Our negotiators tabled an offer to reduce European support to agriculture by 70%, even though in reality, price support in the EU has already dropped to the absolute minimum”, they explained, adding that the EU has for months been waiting for the United States to put forward a similar serious offer. Instead of this, they are proposing to increase the support they currently grant to their farmers by 5 billion dollars, the European organisations' presidents lament. But this is not all. The United States are also planning to keep in place those subsidies which distort trade the most (a guaranteed target price for American farmers for most products, and compensation for crops with low yields). Furthermore, Copa and Cogeca point out that the EU at no point consulted its farmers before making an offer to the WTO, whereas, before it presented the new “Farm Bill”, the United States held no fewer than 52 fora to gather the thoughts of its agricultural businesses and farmers. Mr Schwarzböck and Mr Cashman also call on European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, to start to defend the interests of the EU instead of “constantly giving in to pressure from other countries”.
The Italian umbrella organisation for farm holdings, Coldiretti, issued a press release on 1 February in which it noted with satisfaction that the Bush Administration had included in its draft “Farm Bill” a line of credit worth 1.6 billion dollars to support the development of agricultural renewable energy, including bio-fuel, and thus reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Coldiretti also referred to a “revolutionary measure” of not giving product aid to farmers whose gross annual income is equal to or greater than 200,000 EUR per annum (the limit is currently 2.5 million dollars). The American Administration also hopes to reinforce rules on setting ceilings for income aid. The global limit would be 360,000 dollars per holding, according to Coldiretti. (lc)