Europe Agri articles from June 2009

Europe Agri archives from June 2009

EU/ACP : ACP STATES ORGANISE COOPERATION IN FISHERIES.
June 12, 2009... The global fisheries crisis, fleet overcapacity, depletion of resources, illegal fishing, market access problems, piracy and the impact of climate change on the marine environment and economy are the many challenges facing the African,...

AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES COUNCIL.
June 12, 2009... Draft agenda of the last Agriculture and Fisheries Council, under Czech presidency, in Luxembourg on 22-23 June: - Agriculture items: Future of the CAP and rural development; Agricultural product quality; Regulation concerning statistics on...

EU/ACP : BANANAS: ACP STATES FUME AS WTO DEAL DRAWS CLOSER.
June 12, 2009... The ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries have once again demanded aid of nearly 500 million from the European Union in compensation for an agreement that seems to be taking shape in the World Trade Organisation among the EU, the...

WINE : EU EXEC: NO CHANGES TO ROSE WINE RULES.
June 12, 2009... The European Commission waited until 8 June, the day after European elections, to announce its rejection of draft authorisation for mixing red and white wines to make rose wine. This was a clear signal to Paris, which, after some prevarication...

EU/US : HORMONE-TREATED BEEF: WASHINGTON SEEKS LONG-TERM AGREEMENT.
June 12, 2009... Given the scepticism of American beef farmers over the agreement on hormone-treated beef, US Trade Representative Ron Kirk has pledged that negotiations will continue with the EU in the coming years to find a solution for the longer term. ...

FOOD : IMPROVING QUALITY ASSURANCE OF FOODSTUFFS.
June 12, 2009... The European Commission's communication on agricultural product quality, published on 28 May, indicates that a "global" approach and "concrete measures" are required in order to "improve communication between farmers, buyers and consumers on...

EU/RUSSIA/WTO : MOSCOW COULD FINISH WTO TALKS BY YEAR'S END.
June 12, 2009... Although the talks seemed to be stuck in an impasse only recently, the EU and Russia have agreed to set the objective of concluding Moscow's World Trade Organisation accession negotiations "by the end of the year". Trade Commissioner Catherine...

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : NEW MEMBER STATES PILE ON PRESSURE FOR FAIRER CAP.
June 12, 2009... The Union's agriculture ministers, meeting on 2 June in Brno in the Czech Republic, held informal talks on the post-2013 Common Agricultural Policy, against the backdrop of arrangements to be agreed for direct payments. Both the European...

FISHERIES : POSITIONS ADOPTED ON TROPICAL TUNA AND NORTH ATLANTIC SALMON.
June 12, 2009... The EU's ministers, meeting at the Competitiveness Council in Brussels on 28 May, decided - without debate - on the position to be adopted by the EU in negotiations undertaken within the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and the...

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS : QUALITY PROPOSALS GREETED WITH SCEPTICISM.
June 12, 2009... Initial exchanges regarding the communication on agricultural product quality, presented on 28 May by the European commissioner for agriculture, provided an opportunity for several EU countries to warn Mariann Fischer Boel of the fact that...

COURT OF JUSTICE : TAXATION OF SURPLUS STOCKS: CFI DISMISSES POLISH APPEAL.
June 12, 2009... It was in vain that Poland contested a regulation by the European Commission, which imposed charges on traders holding surplus stocks of certain agricultural products imported into the new member states or originating in those states. In a...

AGRICULTURE : COMMISSION DOES NOT GIVE IN TO MILK PRODUCERS' ANGER.
June 26, 2009... Despite repeated protests by milk producers, the European Commission does not intend to call into question the milk sector reform decided last year as part of the health check' of the Common Agricultural Policy, which gradually increases...

EUROPEAN ELECTIONS : MOVING TOWARDS A THOROUGHLY REVAMPED EP AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE.
June 26, 2009... Several members of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture (AGRI) are to desert its ranks. Its chairman, Neil Parish (EPP, centre-right, UK), will no longer be a part of it. He did not stand. The same goes for his very active...

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : AGREEMENT ON IMPROVEMENT OF SLAUGHTER CONDITIONS.
June 26, 2009... The Union's agriculture ministers adopted, on 22 June in Luxembourg, a draft regulation aimed at improving animal welfare conditions at the time of slaughter. The new standards will apply from 1 January 2013, rather than 2011 as sought by the...

AGRICULTURAL OUTLOOK : AGRICULTURE MORE RESILIENT TO GLOBAL CRISIS THAN OTHER SECTORS.
June 26, 2009... Because food is a basic necessity, the agriculture sector is showing more resilience to the global economic crisis than other industries. But the risks could increase if the economic downturn deepens, according to a new report by the OECD and...

DAIRY PRUDUCTS : COMMISSION DOES NOT GIVE IN TO MILK PRODUCERS' ANGER.
June 26, 2009... Despite repeated protests by milk producers, the European Commission does not intend to call into question the milk sector reform decided last year as part of the health check' of the Common Agricultural Policy, which gradually increases...

DEROGATIONS ON FREE MOVEMENT OF PETS.
June 26, 2009... Finland, Ireland, Malta, Sweden and the United Kingdom may be allowed to impose transitional health requirements, until December 2011, for the control of rabies, worms and ticks for animals travelling with their owners to their territory. The...

BIOTECHNOLOGY : EFSA DIVIDED OVER RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH GM POTATO AMFLORA.
June 26, 2009... Doubts have been cast about the possibility that the European Commission will soon authorise the cultivation of the genetically modified Amflora potato being. 'Two members of the (scientific committee) have expressed a minority opinion' on the...

AGRICULTURAL AIDS : EU SUES GERMANY OVER BAVARIAN FARM AID.
June 26, 2009... The European Commission decided, on 16 June, to start an infringement procedure against Germany, which has not yet published the details of all beneficiaries of the Common Agricultural Policy on its territory, Bavaria having refused to take...

FARM AID MAY BE PUSHED UP TO 16 OCTOBER.
June 26, 2009... The committee in charge of managing direct agricultural aid issued a positive opinion, on 17 June, on the European Commission's proposal to authorise the member states to push forward to 16 October the partial payment of direct aid. The...

ANIMAL HEALTH : INCREASED PRESSURE TO PROHIBIT PAINFUL CASTRATION OF PIGS.
June 26, 2009... The European Commission recently gave the green light to the placing on the market, by Pfizer, of a vaccine making it possible to sterilise male pigs. This step was seen as decisive by animal welfare organisations, with a view to prohibiting...

MARIE-CHRISTINE RIBERA/CEFS.
June 26, 2009... Marie-Christine Ribera was appointed, on 15 June, director-general of the European Committee of Sugar Manufacturers (CEFS). She is replacing Jean-Louis Barjol in the post. Before joining CEFS, Ribera worked for COPA-COGECA for ten years,...

FISHERIES COUNCIL : MEMBER STATES RELUCTANT ON REINFORCED CONTROLS.
June 26, 2009... The draft regulation aimed at strengthening the control system under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is one of the key points of the European Commission's strategy to improve the CFP's performances. Although they agree on the principles, the...

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : MEMBER STATES STILL DIVIDED OVER FUTURE OF CAP.
June 26, 2009... The Czech Presidency of the EU has had to preempt conclusions on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy, which it planned to have adopted by agriculture ministers from the 27 member states, meeting on 22 June in Luxembourg. A similar...

EUROPEAN COUNCIL : MILK AND JAMS.
June 26, 2009... Milk producers invited themselves to the June European Council in Brussels, and convinced the participants to include three lines in their summit conclusions, calling on the Commission to present "an in-depth market analysis" by September so as...

MILK CRISIS SPILLS INTO SUMMIT.
June 26, 2009... The choice of the European Commission president, the Irish guarantees, financial supervision, the climate and immigration topped the agenda of the European Council, on 18-19 June, but the milk crisis - one of the sectoral effects of the...

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : MINISTERS CALL FOR MORE CONTROL OVER CLONES.
June 26, 2009... Despite the European Commission's reluctance, EU agriculture ministers, on 22 June, approved on first reading a political agreement extending the existing rules for marketing new foodstuffs to the descendents of clones. The Commission claims...

FISHERIES COUNCIL : MINISTERS WILLING TO GIVE BOOST TO AQUACULTURE.
June 26, 2009... In spite of the development strategy in place at EU level since 2002, European aquaculture is not faring well. Meeting in Luxembourg, on 23 June, the EU fisheries ministers expressed their "concern" about the situation and noted that while the...

NEW AGRICULTURAL DENOMINATIONS.
June 26, 2009... The European Commission added, on 17 June, two denominations for Italian agricultural and food products to the list of Protected Appellations of Origin (PAOs) and Protected Geographical Indications (PGIs). This concerns the lamb Abbacchio...

EU/US : VASSILIOU GETS REASSURANCES ON PLANNED US FOOD SAFETY LAW.
June 26, 2009... EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou was in Washington this week seeking reassurances that a proposed food safety law will take account of the EU's existing food safety regime and thus will not adversely affect EU food exports to the US....