Europe Agri articles from June 2007

Europe Agri archives from June 2007

FISHERIES : COMMISSION PROPOSES HIGHER IMPORT QUOTAS.
June 15, 2007... Autonomous Community tariff quotas for a number of fisheries products should increase slightly during the period 2007-2009, following a proposal by the European Commission, whose draft regulation was adopted on 4 June(1). The regulation is...

AGRICULTURE : COMMISSION SET TO REVISE CMO FOR CEREALS IN 2008-2009.
June 15, 2007... After overhauling the maize intervention mechanism, which in the future will only be triggered as a safety net when really necessary, the European Commission now intends to undertake a thorough review of the common market organisation (CMO) for...

ETHANOL FUEL.
June 15, 2007... This publication by two French cereal sector associations describes the main stages of development of the ethanol fuel sector, in the context of the strong commitments made by the European Union and France in support of renewable energy. The...

ENVIRONMENT : EU WANTS TO CUT POLLUTION FROM YACHTS.
June 15, 2007... The European Commission plans to launch an impact study to determine what possibilities exist for keeping emissions from yachts to a minimum. Stricter emission limits than those in force today could be proposed, states a report on improving the...

FORUM AGAINST ALCOHOL-RELATED HARM.
June 15, 2007... EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou and the representatives of businesses and NGOs signed on 7 June in Brussels a charter establishing the Alcohol and Health Forum. The new body will meet twice a year and will focus on concrete actions to...

AGRICULTURE : FRUIT AND VEGETABLE REFORM TAKING SHAPE.
June 15, 2007... In the run-up to the Agriculture Council on 11 and 12 June in Luxembourg, the member states and the European Commission are trying to iron out their differences - no easy task - in the hope of reaching agreement on reform of the fruit and...

G8 : HEILIGENDAMM SUMMIT PRESSES FOR RESCUE OF DOHA.
June 15, 2007... The G8 leaders agreed to step up their efforts in the coming weeks to save the Doha Round, as the Heiligendamm summit came to an end on 8 June. "The time has come to translate the ongoing commitment seen at political level into concrete...

EU/UN/ENVIRONMENT : REPORT: EU NOT MONITORING TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES WELL ENOUGH.
June 15, 2007... The European Union is one of the main importers of various species of wild animal and plant, including protected species such as tropical woods, caviar, snake skins and live reptiles, according to the latest report published by TRAFFIC, the...

FISHERIES POLICY : 2008 TACS AND QUOTAS - INDIRECT WARNING TO COUNCIL.(total allowable catches)
June 15, 2007... It's the Council's fault! For the European Commission, which presented its plans on 7 June with regard to setting fish quotas for 2008, although some plans to build up long-term fish stocks have begun to produce positive results, most stocks...

EU/AUSTRALIA : AGREEMENT REACHED ON USE OF WINE NAMES.(Brief article)
June 15, 2007... Designations of origin for European wines will soon be better protected in Australia, where protected names will no longer be used for wines produced in that country. That is one of the results of the bilateral agreement on wine trade,...

ENVIRONMENT : COMMISSION MOVES TO BAN PESTICIDES.
June 15, 2007... The authorisations granted for plant protection products containing fenitrothion and thiodicarb must be withdrawn as from 25 November 2007, the European Commission decided on 25 May (Decisions C(2007)2164 and C(2007)2165). Any period of grace...

AGRICULTUREAL PRODUCTS : COMMISSION SEEKS TO SIMPLIFY LEGISLATION ON AGRI-PRODUCT PROMOTION.(Brief article)
June 15, 2007... The European Commission proposed, on 23 May, a new single framework for the promotion of agricultural products on the internal market and on non-EU markets. The new legal text merges the existing two pieces of legislation into one text, thus...

FISHERIES COUNCIL : COUNCIL AGREES ON EELS AND BLUEFIN TUNA.
June 15, 2007... The EU's fisheries ministers, meeting in Luxembourg on 11 June, approved without debate the agreements negotiated by the member state representatives (Coreper) on eels and bluefin tuna. In conclusions adopted the same day, the Council echoed...

FISHERIES COUNCIL : COUNCIL CONCLUDES POLITICAL AGREEMENT ON BALTIC COD RECOVERY.
June 15, 2007... The European Union's fisheries ministers, meeting in Luxembourg on 12 June, adopted the Baltic cod recovery plan in a close vote, thus avoiding the total closure of this fishery, as would have been the case in the absence of agreement by 30...

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : DEAL INCLUDES NEW LOGO FOR ORGANIC PRODUCTS.
June 15, 2007... The EU's agriculture ministers sealed an agreement, on 12 June in Luxembourg, which creates a new legislative framework for organic farming and organic products. Italy, Belgium, Hungary and Greece rejected the text, but were unable to block its...

FISHERIES POLICY : EXPERIMENTAL ANCHOVY FISHING MAY CONTINUE.
June 15, 2007... The European Commission addressed a letter to France and Spain, on 4 June, spelling out the conditions under which experimental fishing for anchovy may continue in the Bay of Biscay, in areas where statistics have not yet been exploited. Of the...

GM MAIZE AUTHORISATION.
June 15, 2007... The European Union Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health returned no definitive opinion on 8 June either for or against the proposals to authorise two genetically modified maize varieties. The European Commission proposed to...

FIGHT AGAINST OBESITY : KYPRIANOU OPTS FOR VOLUNTARY APPROACH UNTIL 2010.
June 15, 2007... In a bid to reverse the trend towards obesity in the EU by 2015 (by which time, unless something is done, 200 million adults are expected to be overweight), the EU's Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, has gone for the soft option, ie a...

DOHA ROUND : MANDELSON REFUSES TO BE DRAWN INTO A ROW WITH SARKOZY.(Brief article)
June 15, 2007... Faced with repeated attacks by the new French President on the manner in which Doha Round negotiations have been conducted, the EU's Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is refusing to get into a confrontation. Europe "has a major interest" in...

HEALTH COUNCIL : MINISTERS ADVOCATE PRINCIPLES FOR TACKLING OBESITY.
June 15, 2007... The debate by the 27 on nutrition and physical activity focused on the guiding principles that should underpin the drive against obesity, particularly among children. At its sitting on 31 May, the Health Council also reacted favourably to the...

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : MINISTERS AGREE ON REFORM OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CMO.
June 15, 2007... The EU agriculture ministers reached unanimous agreement, on 12 June, on a thorough overhaul of the common market organisation (CMO) for fruit and vegetables. It is expected to give producers more effective crisis management tools and to double...

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : MINISTERS BACK INTRODUCTION OF SINGLE CMO.
June 15, 2007... EU agriculture ministers reached agreement in Luxembourg on 11 June on the creation, in 2008, of a common agricultural market organisation to replace the existing 21 sectorial CMOs. This difficult task of simplifying the Common Agricultural...

BIOTECHNOLOGY : NEW UNCERTAINTIES LOOM OVER TRANSGENIC MAIZE LINE MON 810.
June 15, 2007... Following Greece, Austria, Poland, Hungary and for a few days now Germany, France is presently considering suspending the marketing of Monsanto's MON 810 seeds, the most widespread genetically modified organism (GMO) in Europe. These decisions...

POTATOES : NORTH-WEST EUROPE CAPTURES EU POTATO PRODUCTION MARKET.
June 15, 2007... Despite the drop in production levels, the potato sector in the EU remains dynamic thanks to a core group of five member states in the north-west. Less well-organised and with less favourable agronomic conditions, the Mediterranean countries...

ORGANIC PRODUCTS : ORGANIC FARMING DOUBLES IN EU.
June 15, 2007... The organic area made up 3.9% of the total utilised agricultural area in the EU25 in 2005, according to a special report published on 12 June by Eurostat on the occasion of Green Week 2007(1). The highest proportions of organic area were...

FISHERIES COUNCIL : PLAN ADOPTED FOR MANAGEMENT OF PLAICE AND SOLE.(Brief article)
June 15, 2007... Stocks of plaice and sole in the North Sea should progressively regain stability following the adoption, by EU fisheries ministers, of a multi-annual management plan. The plan, adopted on 11 June, aims to progressively put in place a management...

HEALTH COUNCIL : PROGRESS MADE ON FOOD ENZYMES, ADDITIVES AND FLAVOURINGS.
June 15, 2007... On 31 May, the EU27 adopted a general approach' to three proposed regulations on food products. The first proposal is aimed at establishing a uniform evaluation and authorisation procedure within the EU for food additives, food enzymes and...

EU/POLAND/RUSSIA : RUSSIAN MOVE ON EMBARGO LEAVES POLES UNIMPRESSED.
June 15, 2007... Russia's President Vladimir Putin appealed to Poland "to take into account the signal" which Moscow is sending to Warsaw regarding the ban on Polish meat and plant products. "We are ready to open our market to certain Polish plants so that they...

MEAT : SORTING OUT THE VEAL FROM THE BEEF.
June 15, 2007... To help EU consumers distinguish between different types of veal and between veal and beef, EU27 agriculture experts have reached a compromise clarifying the differences between the different types of meat currently sold in the EU as veal'. A...

SPIRITS : TRADITIONAL VODKA PRODUCERS VOICE THEIR OPINIONS.
June 15, 2007... Members of the European Parliament from traditional vodka-producing countries are getting ready. The European Parliament is scheduled, on 18 June, to examine the report by Horst Schnellhardt (EPP-ED, Germany) on the proposal for a regulation...

IGC 2007/EUROPEAN COUNCIL : JUDICIAL SYSTEM STRENGTHENED.
June 29, 2007... The progress achieved by the 2004 IGC with respect to the European Court of Justice which have been maintained in the 2007 IGC are subtle but important. Name changes. The Court of Justice of the European Communities is expected to change...

BIODIVERSITY : ACTION PLAN OUTLINES MEASURES TO PROTECT ENDANGERED SPECIES.
June 29, 2007... The European Commission adopted, on 13 June, a recommendation, a real action plan' aimed at plugging some of the gaps identified in the application of EU law with regard to trade in wild species (COM(2007)2551). The move came in the context of...

BIRD FLU IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC.
June 29, 2007... On 21 June, the European Commission was informed by the Czech authorities of a suspected outbreak of avian influenza [bird flu] in the Pardubicky Region, district Usti nad Orlici, in the centre of the country. Laboratory tests carried out in...

PESTICIDES : COMMISSION DECIDES ON MARKETING OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES.
June 29, 2007... The European Commission has adopted a number of decisions under Directive 91/414/EC on the marketing of phytopharmaceutical products, prolonging authorisations for use of one substance and withdrawing authorisations for three others. The...

EU/RUSSIA : COMMISSION DENIES AGREEING TO JOINT EU-RUSSIA VETERINARY CHECKS.(European Union. European Commission)(Brief article)
June 29, 2007... The European Commission denied, on 15 June, that it had agreed to carry out a series of joint EU-Russia veterinary inspections in certain EU member states, including Poland. "We know nothing about this. There are no such inspections planned in...

FISHERIES POLICY : COMMISSION UPDATES FISHING AUTHORISATION RULES.
June 29, 2007... Harmonising, simplifying and updating the legal texts relating to fishing authorisations for vessels flying the EU flag outside of Community waters and for non-EU country vessels in Community waters is the objective of a a regulation proposed...

AGRICULTURE : COUNCIL ADOPTS CONCLUSIONSON CROSS-COMPLIANCE.
June 29, 2007... EU agriculture ministers, meeting on 11 June in Luxembourg, adopted conclusions backing improvements and some simplifications of the cross-compliance of direct aids that the European Commission intends to propose to them or to decide itself in...

FOODSTUFFS : COUNCIL FAILS TO AGREE ON FLAVOURINGS DOSSIER.
June 29, 2007... Germany will be passing on the flavourings dossier to Portugal, which will start its six-month mandate as president of the EU on 1 July. Back on 31 May, the Health Council reached a general approach' on three of four draft regulations that...

DAIRY PRODUCTS.
June 29, 2007... The Dairy Management Committee adopted on 14 June the European Commission's proposal to set all refunds for dairy products at zero. This is the first time since the introduction of refunds that exports of all dairy products receive no refunds....

EBIO JOINS EREC.(European Bioethanol Fuel Association and European Renewable Energy Council )(Brief article)
June 29, 2007... The European Bioethanol Fuel Association has joined the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC). "eBIO is the first biofuels industry association to become a member of EREC," said eBIO President Ramon de Miguel. Associate membership is seen by...

CONSUMERS : EU LAWMAKERS VOTE TO BAN CAT AND DOG FUR TRADE.
June 29, 2007... The European Parliament voted to ban imports, exports and sales of cat and dog fur throughout the European Union by adopting Eva-Britt Svensson's (GUE, Sweden) report on 19 June. In line with the recommendations made mid-April by the Committee...

DOHA ROUND : EU'S HOPES OF DOHA BEING REVITALISED ARE FLAGGING.(World Trade Organization)
June 29, 2007... The Doha Round multilateral negotiations are in danger of being completely ditched by World Trade Organisation members in the next few weeks after the G4 (EU, US, Brazil and India) failed to make a breakthrough on 21 June in Potsdam. Since...

FOOD TRADE : FOOD IMPORT BILLS REACH A RECORD HIGH.
June 29, 2007... Global food import bills are increasing, partly due to soaring demand for biofuels, according to FAO's latest Food Outlook report. Global expenditures on imported foodstuffs look set to surpass US$400 billion in 2007, almost 5 percent above the...

G4 FAILURE IN POTSDAM.
June 29, 2007... The key negotiators in the Doha Round, known as the G4 (EU, India, US and Brazil), failed to come to an agreement on 21 June in Potsdam. The meeting was brought to a premature end given the lack of convergence, particularly on the issue of farm...

PESTICIDES : MARKETING RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED ON DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES.
June 29, 2007... Six dangerous substances which pose risks to workers, consumers and the environment are to be withdrawn from the market. The European Commission has decided to withdraw their authorisations in accordance with Directive 91/414/EC on the...

MELLA FREWEN/CIAA.(CIAA appoints Mella Fewen as director general)(Brief article)
June 29, 2007... CIAA - the voice of the European food and drink industry - appointed Mella Fewen as its director-general. She will take over from Daniela Israelachwili on 2 July. An Irish national, Mella Frewen has Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from...

ALCOHOLIC SPIRITS : MEPS OPT FOR AN OPEN' DEFINITION OF VODKA.
June 29, 2007... The so-called vodka war' is over, leaving MEPs from traditional vodka-producing countries (Poland plus the Scandinavian and the Baltic countries) none too pleased. In a vote on 19 June in Strasbourg, MEPs overwhelmingly adopted a compromise...

MONIQUE GOYENS/BEUC.(European Consumers' Organisation appoints Monique Goyens as director general)(Brief article)
June 29, 2007... Monique Goyens has been appointed director-general of the European Consumers' Organisation (BEUC). She will take over later this year, following the retirement of Jim Murray. Goyens is currently secretary-general of the Commission...

AGRICULTURE : MORE PROPORTIONATE REQUIREMENTS FOR TSEaIN SHEEP AND GOATS.(European Union. European Commission)(Brief article)
June 29, 2007... The European Commission adopted on 26 June a regulation amending the EU provisions for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in sheep and goats. The new legislation makes the TSE monitoring and eradication requirements more flexible...

AGRICULTURE : NEW CATEGORISATION SYSTEM FOR BSE RISK.
June 29, 2007... The European Commission adopted on 25 June a new regulation simplifying and updating EU measures for the categorisation of countries according to their Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or mad cow disease) risk. The categorisation of...

NO DECISION ON GM MAIZE.
June 29, 2007... The Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health on 25 June returned no definitive decision either for or against a European Commission proposal to authorise the genetically modified maize 59122 (Herculex RW), developed by Dow...

RECONSTITUTION OF COD STOCKS.
June 29, 2007... The European Commission decided, on 18 June, to extend by one year the application period for the specific follow-up programme linked to the reconstitution of cod in the following zones: Kattegat, the North Sea, Skagerrak, the Eastern Channel,...

FOOD : REGIONAL AUTHORITIES REACH OUT TO THE POOR MOUNTAIN PEOPLES.(development of mountain areas )
June 29, 2007... Nearly one-third of the world's food insecure live in mountain areas - over 245 million people, but development has barely touched many mountain communities. Increasingly, however, mountainous regions in Europe are providing resources and...

RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES.
June 29, 2007... The European Commission proposed to the Management Committee, on 20 June, to approve the rural development programmes for 2007-2013 submitted by France, Finland, Italy and the Netherlands. The French programme is budgeted with 10.8 billion, of...

STEEN RIISGAARD/EUROPABIO.
June 29, 2007... At its Annual General Assembly on 14 June in Brussels, EuropaBio members elected Novozymes A/S President and CEO Steen Riisgaard to chair the association for the next two years. He will succeed BASF Plant Science Holding AG President and CEO...

VENDING MACHINE BUY-OUT CLEARED.
June 29, 2007... On 22 June, the European Commission cleared under the simplified procedure a proposed acquisition of vending machine and drinks supplier Selecta of Switzerland by Allianz SE of Germany. Allianz is an international insurer and financial...