Europe Agri articles from February 2009

Europe Agri archives from February 2009

AQUACULTURE: SEVEN COUNTRIES SENT REASONED OPINIONS.
February 13, 2009... On 29 January, the European Commission sent reasoned opinions (the second stage of an infringement procedure) to seven EU member states for not respecting Directive 2006/88/EC on the prevention of certain diseases in aquaculture animals and...

CAP SIMPLIFIED.(Common Agricultural Policy)(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... In the framework of the simplification and better regulation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the European Commission adopted, on 5 February, a communication removing 240 obsolete agricultural legislative acts adopted before 2007 from...

FISHERIES POLICY : COMMISSION COMES TO RESCUE OF SHARKS.
February 13, 2009... Over the 20-year period from 1984 to 2004, global catches of sharks rose from 600,000 to 810,000 tonnes, a situation that is untenable for this overexploited species, which is in danger of extinction. European fishermen have contributed to this...

EU/US : COMMISSION SAYS NEW US FARM BILL TRADE-DISTORTING.
February 13, 2009... The 2008 US Farm Bill could result in higher support for producers that would distort trade and run counter to World Trade Organisation commitments, shows an analysis by the European Commission's Agriculture Directorate-General, made public on...

OILSEEDS : EU AGREES NEW OLIVE OIL LABELLING RULES.
February 13, 2009... A European Commission proposal to introduce compulsory origin labelling for virgin and extra virgin olive oil received the approval, on 4 February, of member states, who had been informed of the project in September 2008. This measure, which...

BIOTECHNOLOGY : EU EXEC TACKLES AUSTRIAN MORATORIUM ON GMOS.
February 13, 2009... After seeking a waiver of the safeguard clause in France, Greece and Hungary, the European Commission has decided to tackle Austria's ban on the planting of GMO maize. MEP Kyosti Virrankoski will also be presenting a new report entitled...

AGRICULTURAL POLICY : FARMERS STEP UP PROTESTS.
February 13, 2009... Actions by farmers to protest the collapse in agricultural prices resulting from the economic crisis are multiplying in the EU. The very violent demonstrations taking place in Greece since mid-January have spread to Latvia and Bulgaria, where...

INTEGRATED MARITIME POLICY : FINISTERE PRESENTS PATHBREAKING PACT TO SAVE FISHERIES.
February 13, 2009... A new approach to saving fisheries and all the human activities that go with it in a given area has been developed and was presented, on 10 February in Brussels. The territorial pact' was presented by the French department of Finistere...

FOOD LABELLING INFRACTION IN ITALY.
February 13, 2009... The European Commission decided, on 29 January, to send a reasoned opinion (second step in infringement proceedings) to Italy for failure to notify national implementing measures as required by Directive 2007/68/EC (food ingredients). This...

STATE AID : FRENCH SCHEME TO SUPPORT GREEN PRODUCTS APPROVED.
February 13, 2009... The French scheme, which anticipates public financing for businesses affected by the credit squeeze and which manufacture environmentally friendly products, meets the conditions imposed by the European Commission's temporary state aid framework...

INTERNET : GOOGLE EARTH GOES UNDERWATER.(Google Earth to help in marine observations)(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... Increasing knowledge of the oceans and making this space accessible to all is the aim of the Google search engine, which, on 2 February, officially placed online Google Ocean, the extension of its Google Earth service. The initiative has the...

OPEN FORUM : MARITIME INITIATIVES.
February 13, 2009... Following the publication of the European Commission's communication on the Common Fisheries Policy, the French district of Finistere presented, in Brussels on 10 February, its proposal for sustainable fisheries development as part of an...

ANIMAL FEED : MEPS APPROVE NEW LABELLING RULES.
February 13, 2009... The European Parliament, on 5 February, approved a compromise reached on first reading with the EU Council under the French EU Presidency on plans to redraft existing EU rules on the authorising and labelling of animal feed. Industry should in...

NEW PDOS AND PGIS.(protected designations of origin food products list )(Brief article)
February 13, 2009... The European Commission added, on 3 February, four agricultural and food product names to the list of protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI). The four are Italian Radicchio di Verona' (radishes -...

ENVIRONMENT : PRAGUE PUTS SOIL PROTECTION NEGOTIATIONS BACK ON AGENDA.
February 13, 2009... The Czech EU Presidency expects to work out a compromise on the directive establishing a framework for soil protection by proposing a text that is less binding for the member states. The initial proposal has come under fire since being...

SET-ASIDE FRAUD IN ITALY.
February 13, 2009... Acting together with the Italian authorities, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has uncovered a huge fraud in Italy concerning the agricultural set-aside scheme. Some 17 million in assets have been seized in the case, which involved the...

AQUACULTURE: INFRINGEMENTS.
February 27, 2009... The European Commission sent reasoned opinions (the second step of infringement proceedings), on 19 February, to Austria, Belgium, Greece, Italy and Portugal over their failure to notify national implementing measures for Directive 2008/53/EC...

EU/WTO/LATIN AMERICA : BANANA PRODUCERS VOICE RESERVATIONS WITH EU COMPROMISE.
February 27, 2009... Representatives from Latin American producer countries expressed extreme reservations about the new European proposal for EU rules on banana imports, currently being discussed at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva. "We can't accept the...

EU/LATIN AMERICA : BANANA TALKS RESUME WITH FRESH HOPE.
February 27, 2009... European Commission officials are guardedly optimistic that talks on banana imports that resumed this week with Latin American nations can resolve the World Trade Organisation's longest-running trade dispute. However, more tough negotiations...

FISHERIES POLICY : COMMISSION REJECTS OMBUDSMAN'S RECOMMENDATION.
February 27, 2009... Via a recommendation made public on 24 February, the EU Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has asked the European Commission to correct an administrative error concerning fishing quotas granted to Scottish fishermen for the year 2007 in the...

DECISION ON GM MAIZE POSTPONED.
February 27, 2009... The EU Regulatory Committee of Directive 2001/18/EC on the deliberate release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment voted, on 25 February, on two European Commission proposals that were transmitted on 21 January and...

GMOS : ECJ: LOCATION OF GMO FIELDS MUST BE PUBLISHED.(Brief article)
February 27, 2009... The EU Court of Justice told France, on 17 February, that it is obliged to release the exact location of sites where genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are grown. Under no circumstances can EU member states invoke "an exception relating to...

EP GREEN LIGHT TO AMENDING FISHERIES CONVENTION.
February 27, 2009... The European Parliament approved, on 19 February, the Council's proposal on approving amendments to the Convention on multilateral cooperation in the North-East Atlantic Fisheries. In adopting the report by Philippe Morillon (ALDE, France), the...

FISHERIES POLICY : EP WANTS BETTER TARGETED RESEARCH.
February 27, 2009... Policy makers and fisheries operators have a crucial need for more practical research, say members of the European Parliament, who have called for urgent implementation and adequate funding of a scientific policy targeting fishery resources....

FARMERS AND HUNTERS DISPLAY UNITY.
February 27, 2009... Representatives of hunters and farmers in the EU signed, on 12 February, a memorandum of understanding on the preservation of rural areas, in particular sustainable land management and environmental conservation. The signatories are the...

GMOS : FRENCH AND GREEK SAFEGUARD CLAUSES IN THE BALANCE.(Brief article)
February 27, 2009... France and Greece failed, during a meeting of European experts, on 16 February, to persuade enough countries to support them if they want to save their safeguard clause on transgenic maize Mon 810. Convincing all the delegations that abstained...

AGRICULTURE/SOCIAL POLICY : GERMANY CHALLENGES FOOD AID PROGRAMME.
February 27, 2009... "The European food aid programme for the most deprived is in danger." In their cry of alarm, food banks recalled in a statement, on 11 February, that this mechanism has allowed food products to be delivered in kind to charitable organisations...

BIOTECHNOLOGY : GMOS COVER 8% OF PLANET'S ARABLE LAND, SAYS INDUSTRY.
February 27, 2009... The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) unveiled, on 11 February, an estimate of genetically modified organism (GMO) crops worldwide that shows an increase of 10.7 million hectares in 2008 compared to...

FISHERIES AND MARITIME POLICY : JOE BORG SUPPORTS PRINCIPLE OF MARITIME TERRITORIAL COHESION.
February 27, 2009... Speaking at the meeting of the Bureau of the Atlantic Arc Commission of the Conference of Maritime Peripheral Regions (CMPR), on 12 February in Caen (France), Commissioner Joe Borg (fisheries and maritime affairs) highlighted the two...

AGRICULTURAL POLICY : MEPS MOBILISE FOR CONTINUING AID TO POOREST.
February 27, 2009... Members of the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee recommended, on 17 February, the continuation under the Common Agricultural Policy of the European food distribution programme for the most deprived people in Europe. With its adoption...

ILLEGAL TIMBER TRADE : MEPS TOUGHEN UP INTERNAL CONTROL RULES.
February 27, 2009... The voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) approach set in place by the EU with third countries(1) has not produced the anticipated results in terms of ending illegal timber harvesting and trade, according to members of the European Parliament's...

FOODSTUFFS : MEPS WANT BETTER PROTECTION FOR QUALITY PRODUCTS.(Brief article)
February 27, 2009... With growing competition from non-EU countries and the domination of mass marketing, the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee recommends a number of practical measures, in particular the creation of a European quality agency to promote...

FOODSTUFFS : NEW FRAMEWORK ON NUTRITIONAL PROFILES.(Brief article)
February 27, 2009... Following the adoption, in 2006, of a new regulation on health claims, the European Commission was to set up a specific framework to define which foodstuffs, according to their nutritional profile, could use expressions such as rich in...

NO PLANS TO REGULATE GERMAN BREAD.(standards for maximum salt levels in bread)(Brief article)
February 27, 2009... The European Commission has no intention to regulate or introduce a standard prescribing maximum salt levels for bread in Germany or anywhere else in the Union, said a spokesperson for Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou in reaction to...

WHALING : PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR BAN ON WHALING FOR SCIENTIFIC PURPOSES.
February 27, 2009... The European Parliament is calling for a prohibition on whaling for scientific purposes. With their adoption, on 19 February (626 to 12, with 19 abstentions), of a report by Elspeth Attwooll (ALDE, UK), MEPs ask the Council and EU member states...

ENVIRONMENT/AGRICULTURE : SOIL LEGISLATION POORLY IMPLEMENTED, SAYS JRC.
February 27, 2009... The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) states in a long report on the state of soils in the EU that the current legislative framework makes it possible to combat soil deterioration but that it is not being sufficiently...