29-30 November Agriculture Council

Date: 07/12/1995

FARM ministers agreed on a range of minor changes to the set-aside regime. The Commission will in future deduct 85&percent; of voluntary set-aside from the overshoot when calculating penalty set-aside. This will apply retroactively, as long as the Commission receives sufficiently accurate data from member states. The Commission also agreed to allow derogations from penalty set-aside when overshoots arise as a direct result of drought. For 1996 only, penalty set-aside of less than 1&percent; will not apply.

ON fruit and vegetable reform, ministers from southern Europe repeated their concerns that they were not receiving the same treatment as had been accorded to “northern products” under the main part of CAP reform.

THE Netherlands requested flexibility in who should receive the income aid payments granted in June for agrimonetary fluctuations. Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler said that he did not think farmers would appreciate being told that they would now not receive the money.

GREECE raised concern about the proposed concessions on farm trade with South Africa, and was joined by other delegations in calling for an overall evaluation of the impact of third country agreements on the CAP.

SOME ministers were troubled by compensation to be granted to the US under Article XXIV: 6 of the GATT because of the enlargement of the EU. Fischler claimed that the concessions merely amounted to traditional imports into the three new member states, and stressed the importance of resolving the dispute over the cereals and rice import regime.

FISCHLER rejected a new call for an aid regime for potatoes, saying that the Commission had already proposed a 'light' regime and pledged that a proposal on bee-keeping would be made as soon as the budget would allow. He also said he was prepared to consider a request for the transfer of 100,000 tonnes of intervention barley to the drought-affected region of Sardinia.

THE Commissioner rejected claims that the BSE rules needed tightening following a case in the UK of the disease in an animal of less than two and a half years old. He said that the Scientific Veterinary Committee had concluded that there was no reason to change the rules.

RESPONDING to an enquiry from Sweden and the UK, Fischler said the veal crate report would be ready by the end of the year. The Commission will then begin work on battery hens.

THE meeting spent some time discussing concerns raised by Ireland, Austria, Germany and France over the recent 25&percent; cut in beef export refunds. Fischler pointed out that this had been necessary to ensure that the EU kept within a weekly limit of around 22,000 tonnes, allowing it to stay within GATT constraints.

OVER dinner, ministers responded to the Commission's paper on enlargement and the future of the CAP. Many doubted that the time was right, given that not all the 1992 reforms had been completed. Less wealthy member states feared that decentralising the policy might lead to 'renationalisation'. French sources suggested that France wanted to see a greater emphasis on export policy and how direct payments would be made. Both Sweden and the UK claimed that the strategy was not radical enough.