Brussels, 13/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - EU27 agriculture and fisheries ministers will meet on Monday 16 July in Brussels under the presidency of Mr Jaime Silva, the minister for agriculture, rural development and fisheries of Portugal, to launch the debate on the legislative proposal for reform of the wine sector and to seek to move forward in the discussion on improvements to be made to the scheme for restructuring the sugar industry. At the request of several countries, the Council will discuss the possibility of a temporary derogation to the obligation of set-aside. The Portuguese EU Council presidency will present its work programme for the second half of 2007.
Wine. Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Mariann Fischer Boel will present to ministers the proposal adopted on 4 July on the ambitious reform of the common market organisation (CMO) for wine. Ministers will then proceed to an exchange of views on this dossier, that the Portuguese EU presidency hopes to conclude by the end of December.
Sugar. A policy debate will be held on a Commission proposal presented in May to establish a temporary scheme for the restructuring of the sugar industry in the Community. Member states are divided as to whether, during the final linear reduction of sugar quotas in 2010, the restructuring efforts already made by industry should be taken into account. Based on the fact that a far smaller volume of quotas than foreseen was withdrawn from the market during the first two years of the scheme, the Commission suggests adjustments should be made in order to make the scheme more attractive and that changes proposed should allow the renunciation of about 3.8 million tonnes of sugar quota in addition to the 2.2 million tonnes given up so far.
GMO. The Council is invited to give its stance on a proposed decision authorising the placing on the market of a potato product genetically modified for enhanced content of the amylopectin component of starch (EUROPE 9457). The genetically modified product (Solanum tuberosum L. line EH92-527-1) is manufactured by BASF and is intended for processing into industrial starch and for the purposes of animal feed in the Community. It is not possible at this stage to predict whether a qualified majority will be found within Council in favour of the proposal or against it. If there is no qualified majority, the final decision will be up to the Commission.
WTO and avian flu. Ministers will take stock of the state of progress of WTO talks on the Doha Round and on the latest outbreaks of the H5N1 avian flu virus in the EU.
Set-aside. In various points, Sweden will call on the Commission to set the compulsory rate of set-aside at 0% for the marketing year 2008/2009. Sweden points out that this would allow farmers to respond to the overall demand of the food industry and to the growing market in bio-energies. It states, however, that this should not prejudge discussions that must take place next year at the time of the progress report on Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which may include a proposal on abolishing compulsory set-aside. Noting that prices on the cereals market are currently very high (mainly for wheat), France and Germany also call for it to be possible, for the 2008/09 harvesting year only, for land under the fallow obligation to be used for the production of more cereals. The French and German delegations write that this would send a positive signal to the market. They thus specify that '”no farmer would be subject to the set-aside obligation for the marketing year 2008/09”. France and Germany call on the Commission to act fast in order to allow the Council to adopt a derogation from 16 July 2007.
Miscellaneous. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria will inform the Council of the advantages of a transitional period to apply cross-compliance provisions in those member states, putting off the obligation as far as possible.
Romania will raise the attention of the Council to the seriousness of the situation with regard to a severe drought in the Black Sea region. Cyprus will recall the devastation caused for agriculture by catastrophic fires.
Sweden will inform the Council of the results of a meeting of agriculture and environment ministers' representatives of the Council of Baltic Sea States dedicated on 19 and 20 April in Stockholm to the subject of “Land and Sea: more cooperation, less eutrophication”.
Spain will inform the Council of its initiative to promote the candidature of the Mediterranean food regime in the UNESCO list of Humanitarian Heritage.
Also, the Danish delegation will explain the reasons why it recommends that the Commission fix a TAC for Norway pout of 50,000 tonnes this year. Also under miscellaneous, France may evoke the difficult situation of its anchovy fishermen in the Bay of Biscay (EUROPE 9467). Anchovy fishing has been closed since July 2006 and the French fishing sector is calling for activity to be resumed with a TAC of 3,000-4,000 tonnes for August, September and October, with strict rules for control of catches. Spain, however, is opposed to anchovy fishing being resumed. (lc)