Brussels, 09/05/2007 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on 8 May, the EP agriculture committee adopted the report by Maria Isabel Salinas García (PES, Spain) on the reform of the fruit and vegetable sector by 37 votes to 2, with 2 abstentions, backing the broad thrust of the European Commission proposal. However, amendments were brought to the proposal in order to provide more flexible aid, better tailored to producers' needs, and to reinforce crisis management measures. Here are the main elements of the report, which will be put to the vote by the European Parliament in plenary session in Brussels on 7 June:
Security fund to manage major crises: to enable producer organisations to manage major crises better (e.g. when prices fall), the agriculture committee once again calls for a security fund, which would be financed separately from the producer organisations' (POs) operational funds. The Commission, it should be remembered, proposes that crisis management measures should be financed by the operational programmes.
Two thirds of the money for this security fund would come from the EU, with the final one third coming from producer organisations in the affected areas. These funds would also be open to producers who were not members of POs. POs, working with the member state and/or the regions could choose to implement the following measures in full or in part: withdrawal from the market; green harvesting (i.e. early harvesting of a part of the crop) or no harvesting; promotion and communication; training; market or income insurance; part payment of administrative costs of setting up mutual funds (and the contributions of PO members to the said funds); and aid for processing dual-purpose products. The report also calls for a body to monitor prices so as to anticipate crises better.
Flexible support: the European Commission proposes to introduce full decoupling of aid in this sector. The Parliamentary committee has amended the proposal so as to ensure that, for some time to come, part of the aid is linked to production levels, particularly in the processed products sector. In concrete terms, the report retains 50% of national caps until 2013 to grant area payments to POs whose producers cultivate tomatoes on an industrial scale. For citrus fruit, the processing aid scheme is to be retained until 2009-2010. The committee has also set up area payments for garlic and mushrooms to help producers compete with Chinese producers. Potatoes will be withdrawn from the state aid system and put into the single payment scheme. The committee also wanted to find a solution suited to the new member states, whose production (particularly of red fruit) receives less support and where POs are having difficulty getting off the ground. The amendments, therefore, call for the introduction of a specific aid per hectare for strawberries, raspberries, cherries and gooseberries on the model of the existing one for nuts. This aid of €120.75 per hectare would apply to a maximum guaranteed area of 165,000ha and would cost the Community budget €20 million per year.
Strengthening producer organisations: to strengthen POs against the power of major distributors and to encourage more producers to join these bodies, the committee is asking for Community co-financing of operational funds to be increased from 50% to 60% in more cases (merging POs, integrated production, etc). It also recommends putting the ceiling on Community aid to these POs up from 4.1% to 6% of the value of the production placed on the market. A compromise amendment allows POs, on a voluntary basis, to finance operations to promote the consumption of fruit and vegetables, e.g. through campaigns in schools.
Imports and labelling: some MEPs want to tighten controls over imports of fruit and vegetables from non-EU countries. The amendments make it easier to trigger the special safeguard clause (in the form of additional import duties) and to keep the possibility of granting, where necessary, export refunds in the fruit and vegetable sector (until such time as a formal commitment to remove these refunds is taken by the EU as part of the WTO). The report also calls for the EU to negotiate plant-health protocols with non-EU countries (INTA 1). In addition, the amendments reinforce quality and labelling standards (indication of origin and possibility of introducing a European quality label).
The rapporteur, Ms Salinas García, said she was “very impressed by the high degree of consensus obtained on my report” in a very complex matter involving 40 different products. She noted that all the political groups had accepted her four compromise amendments (import control, consumer protection, security fund and crisis management measures). Ms Salinas García called on Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel to “listen and accept” the improvements proposed in the report. Ms Salinas Garcia does not expect any “major changes” will be made at the plenary vote on 7 June. She does hope, however, that things will move forward a little for improving the conditions for processed products.
In a press release, Esther Herranz (EPP-ED, Spain) welcomes in the report the idea that has been taken up again by her political group to establish a European Fund to remedy serious market crises. She also notes the consensus reached by the parliamentary committee on the €35.5 million increase in financial aid to citrus fruit producers. The “report is a very important step forward in order to protect the fruits and vegetable sector while reforming it”, commented Ms Herranz. (lc)