Brussels, 04/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - EU agriculture and fisheries ministers will meet in Brussels on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 May to try to reach agreement on standards of protection for chickens kept for meat, safeguard measures for eels, and the recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Under the chairmanship of German minister Horst Seehofer, ministers will also discuss the application of cross-compliance and proposals to encourage the restructuring of the sugar sector. They will also take note of the state of play on the controversial plan to get rid of maize intervention. The Council will take stock of the international Doha Round talks at the WTO and on the efforts of Commissioner Markos Kyprianou to have Russia lift its ban on Polish meat.
Chickens kept for meat. The Council will try to reach a political agreement on the draft directive setting minimum standards of protection for chickens kept for meat. Differences between countries largely concern stocking densities (see EUROPE 9417). The German presidency is nonetheless hoping to bring member states to a compromise on this matter.
Animal welfare and labelling. The Council is expected to adopt conclusions following the conference of 28 March 2007 on animal welfare labelling on meat products. EU countries highlight that this kind of labelling could help the single market to operate smoothly and agree that there is need for an EU-wide campaign to better explain welfare standards for farmed animals to consumers. The conclusions also ask the Commission to adopt a report on animal welfare labelling, allowing for an in-depth debate on the issue.
Seeds. The Council will adopt conclusions, which will, along other things, invite the Commission to bring forward “in due time” proposals leading to simplification of regulations in the plant varieties and seeds sector.
Maize. The German presidency will bring ministers up to date on progress made towards an agreement on abolishing maize intervention, a matter on which member states are deeply divided. The presidency's amended text, which sets a ceiling for intervention and a phasing out scheme setting the intervention level at zero in 2009, is still not supported by a qualified majority within the Council (see EUROPE 9414).
Cross-compliance. The Council will hold a debate on the Commission's ideas for making cross-compliance regulations less cumbersome (see EUROPE 9397 on the Commission report). Several member states, including Denmark, Finland, Sweden, France, Ireland and the Netherlands, have called on Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel to be more ambitious in simplifying arrangements. They are calling, in particular, for farmers to be given 14 days' warning of an inspection visit and get rid of financial penalties in the event of minor infringement of cross-compliance rules.
Sugar. Ms Fischer Boel will present the proposal, which will be adopted on the same day (7 May) on measures to be taken to restructure the sugar sector (see EUROPE 9418).
Eels. At the last Council in Luxembourg on 16 April, EU fisheries ministers could not agree on recovery measures for eel stocks (see EUROPE 9408). They will try this time then, to overcome their differences, in particular on restocking basins in the North and East of Europe with elvers. France and Spain, supported by Italy and Romania (this group of countries is sufficient to block measures), oppose binding figures on restocking (up to 60% of elvers caught in 2010, under the terms of the last agreement). At the heart of the proposal lies the requirement that, by 2008, member states submit, to the Commission, a management plan that allows 40% of adult eels to escape along waterways to return to their spawning grounds on the Sargasso Sea (south of Florida).
Bluefin Tuna. European fisheries ministers will try to reach a political agreement on the proposal to implement international decisions on the protection of stocks of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic. Member states are divided on the timetable for implementing these measures in this plan and the exemptions, on the authorised landing weight of bluefin tuna, afforded some sections of the fleet (see details in EUROPE 9417). (lc)