Brussels, 18/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 17 March, about 15 EU agriculture minsters warned the European Commission against the temptation to sacrifice European agricultural interests on the altar of a comprehensive free trade agreement at the WTO. The Council debated the issue as the WTO ministerial meeting (perhaps the final opportunity), due to be held in Geneva at the end of April or start of May, approaches.
Most European agriculture ministers, led by those of France and Germany, reiterated the need to be vigilant in negotiations and not to sacrifice agriculture to reach an overall agreement in all the areas of the Doha Round. Many repeated the EU foreign ministers' conclusions of 10 March calling for an ambitious and balanced multilateral agreement (see EUROPE 9620). On Thursday 13 March, the Commission sent member states a study on the impact of the proposal currently on the agricultural negotiating table. Many European ministers had reservations about this report, which they felt was too optimistic.
“I would warn against haste, against the temptation to rush headlong,” said French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier. “It would be unacceptable to us if the timetable set won the day over substance. That would be very serious,” he added. He also wondered if agriculture and food should not ultimately be removed from the WTO. If there is no WTO agreement on the modalities for liberalising world trade in May or June, he indicated, then, de facto, there will be a hiatus, given the forthcoming United States elections in the autumn. “The question I ask myself is, is the WTO really the place to discuss agriculture and food issues?” he said. “There could be other places specifically for agriculture and food, given the very specific nature of the sector which cannot be lumped together with machine tools and services. For the moment, however, we are working within the framework of negotiations (at the WTO) which we agreed to and which are very difficult,” he went on. He gave no further information on the forums which he felt might be the place for trade negotiations specifically for agriculture.
German minister, Horst Seehofer, added that the emerging countries, like Brazil and India, should open their markets to the industrial goods and services from the rich countries and accept the European offer on reducing agricultural subsidies, something that is not the case.
Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said that discussions in Geneva in the negotiating committee on agriculture had brought significant clarification of the text. The second revised proposal on the modalities for liberalising trade is not expected before the end of March, she said, pointing out that the objective was to conclude an agreement on modalities by the end of April or the start of May, ahead of a comprehensive agreement on all the chapters of the Doha Round (agriculture, industrial goods, services, rules, trade facilitation and geographical indications) before the of 2008.
The Agriculture Council also discussed the following “other business”.
Agri-food sectors. France presented its memorandum on the organisation of the producer sectors. It called for Community mechanisms to be strengthened to give producers and sectors the means to get organised and collectively take responsibility for some of the risks, crises and their economic consequences. The document was greeted with interest by several member states (including Belgium, Poland, Italy, Romania, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Greece). The Commission said it was ready to try to find solutions as long as the measures proposed did not infringe Community competition law.
Sheep sector. Supported by several member states (Spain, France, Greece, United Kingdom, Hungary, Cyprus, Romania, Poland and Lithuania), the Irish delegation raised the issue of the serious situation in which the European sheep sector finds itself (sharp fall in demand and production). The Commission undertook to consider solutions for the sector during the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) “health check”. It did not rule out co-funding by the EU budget of expenses incurred by farmers as a result off electronic identification of small ruminants. A conference on the future of the sheep sector will be held in Limoges (France) in September, Barnier announced.
Pig meat. Poland, along with several other member states (France, Lithuania, Austria, Latvia, Hungary, Ireland, Greece, Romania, Czech Republic and Cyprus) called on the Commission to strengthen the Community measures that have already been taken on pig meat export refunds. The Commission did not accede to these requests, and decided to maintain the current level of refunds, although the initial intention had been to reduce them. The United Kingdom expressed doubts over the effectiveness of export refunds and implied that if the EU were to make progress on authorising GMOs (genetically modified organisms), it would help improve the situation in the animal feeds sector. (L.C.)