Brussels, 26/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - European Union agriculture ministers reached an agreement by qualified majority on Wednesday 26 September on improvements being made to the sugar sector restructuring scheme. The main innovation is that beet growers will be allowed to directly ask to renounce sugar quotas. Hitherto, only industries had been allowed to do so.
These changes, which are nonetheless criticised by several member states (Denmark, Finland, Czech Republic and Slovakia) should make it possible to renounce about 3.8 million tonnes of sugar quota over the marketing years 2008-09 and 2009-10 in addition to the 2.2 million tonnes given up so far. If insufficient quota has been renounced by 2010, the Commission will make compulsory quota cuts. The level of these cuts will vary depending on how much quota each member state had renounced under the restructuring scheme.
The main changes agreed are that: - the percentage of the aid given to growers and machinery contractors should be fixed at 10% (aid will be €624 per tonne of quota renounced in 2008-09 for total closure of the factory, and €218/tonne for partial closure); - for the 2008-09 marketing year, growers will receive an additional payment of €237.5 per tonne of quota renounced (provisions made retroactive in order not to penalise beet growers that took part in the restructuring programme in 2006-07 and 2007-08); - and the possibility for sugar beet growers to trigger the restructuring process themselves by directly submitting a request for aid (with guarantees to avoid endangering the survival of the company to which the producer is linked by contract).
Furthermore, the company that agrees to renounces more than 13.5% of its quota in 2008-09 will be compensated (so-called “preventive” withdrawal). The new regulations introduce a two-phase procedure for submitting requests for quota renunciation 2008-09. The first (deadline 31 January 2008) must correspond to the minimum preventive renunciation decided in March 2007 (13.5%) in order to allow participation in the second (deadline 31 March 2008). (lc)