Europe Agri articles from November 2008

Europe Agri archives from November 2008

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : ACCORD NEAR ON SCHOOL FRUIT SCHEME.
November 7, 2008... French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier indicated, on 28 October in Luxembourg, at the close of the monthly Council session with his EU counterparts, that a "final compromise" would probably be adopted at the end of November on the scheme to...

ANIMAL HEALTH : ADDITIONAL FUNDS TO COMBAT BLUETONGUE AS NEW STRAIN CONFIRMED.(Brief article)
November 7, 2008... During the Agriculture Council, on 28 October in Luxembourg, the European Commission announced its intention to propose in early 2009 additional funding of approximately 100 million in order to co-finance the administration of vaccines to...

ASHTON IN DOHA PUSH.(Brief article)
November 7, 2008... In order to demonstrate her resolve to revive the Doha Round, the new EU Trade Commissioner, Catherine Ashton, met Pascal Lamy, the World Trade Organisation's director-general, in Geneva just after being confirmed by the European Parliament, on...

BIOTECHNOLOGY: CARTAGENA PROTOCOL.(Brief article)
November 7, 2008... The European Union's environment ministers, meeting on 20 October in Luxembourg, decided to renew the mandate entitling the European Commission to act on behalf of the Union for the final phase of the international negotiations under the...

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : CAP HEALTH CHECK BACK ON MINISTERS' AGENDA.
November 7, 2008... Agriculture ministers from the Union's 27 member states were in Luxembourg, on 27 and 28 October, to continue their negotiations on the health check' of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (see page 5). For the French Agriculture...

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : CAP: PARIS STRUGGLING FOR A DEAL BY NOVEMBER.
November 7, 2008... In the company of EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier, incumbent president of the EU's Agriculture Council, carried out, on 27 and 28 October in Luxembourg, another series of meetings...

WINE : COMMISSION LIMITS GRUBBING-UP REQUESTS TO 73,000 HA IN 2008.
November 7, 2008... For budgetary reasons, the European Commission has accepted only around half of the requests to grub up vines submitted by EU member states for this year, in the framework of the reform of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) for wine. Intended...

ILLEGAL WOOD TRADE : COUNCIL CONCERNED OVER POSSIBLE ADMINISTRATIVE OVERLOAD.
November 7, 2008... Though on the whole they gladly welcomed the European Commission's proposals aiming to regulate the trade in illegally felled wood (presented on 17 October), several member states have, however, expressed their concern over the administrative...

EU AUTHORISES GM COTTON.
November 7, 2008... The European Commission adopted, on 29 October, a decision authorising the use of genetically modified (GM) LLCotton25, following an application submitted by Germany's Bayer CropScience AG and a favourable scientific assessment by the European...

EMISSION TRADING : FERTILISER PRODUCERS WANT ENERGY INTENSIVE STATUS.
November 7, 2008... Producer prices for the European nitrogen fertiliser industry will increase bya21% to 34% under full auctioning of emission allowances within the EU's Emission Trading Scheme, according to a new 60-page study commissioned by the European...

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS : FISCHER BOEL PLEADS FOR CLARIFICATION OF QUALITY SIGNS.
November 7, 2008... Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel presented to the Agriculture Council, on 28 October in Luxembourg, the green paper on agricultural product quality issued on 15 October. This document is intended to launch a debate on the future of...

FRANCE AND ASHTON AT ODDS OVER DOHA.(Brief article)
November 7, 2008... The French Presidency of the EU and the European Commission are still at odds over the future of the Doha Round, despite the replacement of Peter Mandelson by Catherine Ashton. The new trade commissioner took the opportunity of her first public...

FISHERIES COUNCIL : MASTER STROKE FOR FRENCH EU PRESIDENCY.
November 7, 2008... After a long day of negotiations, EU fisheries ministers, gathered in Luxembourg on 27 October, unanimously reached an agreement on the four sensitive dossiers on the agenda: the total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas for 2009 for the Black...

ENVIRONMENT COUNCIL : MINISTERS WANT TO STRENGTHEN GMO RISK EVALUATION METHODS.
November 7, 2008... Environment ministers confirmed their willingness to see the strengthening and harmonisation of practices and methods for evaluating the environmental risks of genetically modified plants (GMPs) . The 27 ministers, meeting in Luxembourg on 20...

BIOTECHNOLOGY : PRESIDENCY TABLES DRAFT CONCLUSIONS ON GMOS.
November 7, 2008... On 31 October, the French EU Presidency submitted preliminary draft conclusions on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to the experts of the task force set up last July. The text, which addresses a whole range of questions, such as improved...

FISHERIES POLICY : REFORM OF CONTROL SYSTEM "ESSENTIAL".
November 7, 2008... More than 10,000 serious infringements were detected in 2006, notes the European Commission's seventh annual report on the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). This high figure is proof that enforcement of the CFP is having...

ENVIRONMENT COUNCIL : TOUGHER WATER QUALITY STANDARDS GET CLEARANCE.
November 7, 2008... The EU Council of environment ministers, meeting in Luxembourg on 20 October, unanimously adopted at second reading (co-decision procedure) the directive establishing environmental quality standards for water. The final text is the result of an...

VETERINARY POLICY : ACCESS TO VET MEDICINES TO BE FACILITATED.
November 21, 2008... Conscious of the negative consequences for breeders of a Community legislation which is too restrictive with regard to residues of veterinary medicines in meat and meat products, the three EU institutions reached a compromise that should...

ENERGY : BIOFUEL COUNTRIES' AMBASSADORS WANT DIALOGUE OVER EU POLICY.
November 21, 2008... In a joint letter, on 6 November, the ambassadors of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique and Sierra Leone called for an "open and constructive" dialogue with the EU institutions over the development of a...

EU/USA : BIOFUELS AND AID CAPPING ON OBAMA'S PROGRAMME.
November 21, 2008... Less than six months before being elected the 44th president of the USA, while he was still Senator of Illinois, Barack Obama was in favour of the latest Farm Bill with a budget of nearly US$290 billion, one of the most generous in the last...

BIOTECHNOLOGY : COMMISSION FREE TO AUTHORISE GM SOY.
November 21, 2008... In spite of strong pressure by feed importers, the European Union's agriculture ministers failed to rally a sufficient majority in Council, on 19 November in Brussels, to authorise the market release of MON 89788 soy, better known as Roundup...

FISHERIES POLICY : COMMISSION PROPOSES DRASTIC CUT IN QUOTAS IN 2009.
November 21, 2008... The European Commission is clamping down again on fishing possibilities. With its proposals, presented on 10 November, it slashes quotas for 2009 for the main stocks in the northeast Atlantic and the North Sea (cod, herring, anchovy and shark)....

EU AGREES AGRICULTURE POLICY REFORMS.
November 21, 2008... EU countries on Thursday 20 November forged an agreement after marathon talks to revamp their farm support policy with increases in milk quotas and cuts in subsidies for production, European diplomats said. The compromise deal was reached by EU...

FRUIT AND VEGETABLES : EU AXES BAN ON WRONG-SHAPED' FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.
November 21, 2008... For the sake of simplification, the European Commission will repeal marketing standards for 26 types of fruit and vegetables from 1 July 2009. "This is a concrete example of our drive to cut unnecessary red tape," explained Commissioner Mariann...

EU/RUSSIA : EU HAILS MOSCOW'S DECISION TO DELAY TIMBER DUTY HIKE.
November 21, 2008... The EU welcomed, on 12 November, the announcement made by Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on the postponement by nine to 12 months of a planned increase on export duties on raw timber. "Considering the fact that reduction of exports...

RESEARCH : EU PROPOSES STRICTER RULES ON ANIMAL TESTING.
November 21, 2008... After a series of postponements (April 2008 then September), the European Commission finally presented, on 5 November, its proposal aiming to restrict and supervise the use of scientific tests on animals, as the European Parliament asked, on 30...

ENVIRONMENT : EU SHOULD STRIVE TO BE LOW-WATER ECONOMY'.
November 21, 2008... Like the concept of low-carbon economy' recommended for energy in the context of climate change, the European Union should also strive to become a low water consumption economy' owing to problems of drought and water scarcity. This is one of...

ANIMAL HEALTH : EXPERTS CALL FOR NEW APPROACH TO SLAUGHTERHOUSE HEALTH INSPECTIONS.
November 21, 2008... As the European Commission prepares to publish a report next May on implementation of food hygiene legislation, the member states' veterinary experts have already drafted conclusions on the modernisation of health inspections in...

FISHERIES POLICY : GREEN LIGHT FOR BELGIAN OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME.
November 21, 2008... The European Commission approved, on 18 November, the allocation of Community funds to the Belgian fishing sector for the 2007-2013 period. The total eligible public expenditure of the programme amounts to around 52.5 million, with EU...

FISHERIES : ICCAT OPENS "LAST-CHANCE" MEETING ON BLUEFIN TUNA.
November 21, 2008... Bluefin tuna stocks in the Mediterranean Sea have plummeted (-80%) in two decades, placing this resource in a particularly critical situation: the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT),...

DOHA ROUND : IN GENEVA, POSITIONS REMAIN ENTRENCHED.(Conference news)
November 21, 2008... Despite the G20 summit's call in favour of concluding the Doha Round by the end of the year, many doubts remain about the chances of concluding a multilateral deal rapidly. Three days after world leaders reaffirmed, in a joint statement in...

APICULTURE : MEPS CALL FOR EMERGENCY MEASURES TO FIGHT BEE MORTALITY.
November 21, 2008... "We must react without delay" to the serious health crisis affecting the bee sector: such is the message contained in a draft resolution by Astrid Lulling (EPP-ED, Luxembourg), adopted on 4 November by the European Parliament's Committee on...

AGRICULTURE/ENVIRONMENT : MEPS STICK TO THEIR GUNS OVER PESTICIDES.
November 21, 2008... The European Parliament's Environment Committee voted at second reading, on 5 November, on a draft of the new legislation on the production, authorisation and use of pesticides which maintains strict selection criteria and binding provisions,...

FISHERIES COUNCIL : MINISTERS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVE COD RECOVERY PLAN.
November 21, 2008... With their unanimous adoption of a modified cod recovery plan, the EU's fisheries ministers, meeting in Brussels on 18 and 19 November, opted for greater flexibility in stock management by switching from the biomass approach used in the past to...

NEW PDO AND PGI.(protected designations of origin)(protected geographical indications)(Brief article)
November 21, 2008... On 11 November, the European Commission added two new agricultural and food product names to the list of protected designations of origin (PDOs) and protected geographical indications (PGIs). The two products are the French meat Boeuf de...

ENERGY : PIEBALGS PRAISES BIOFUELS IN BRAZIL.
November 21, 2008... Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs joined some 50 ministers, many of them from developing countries, at the International Biofuels Conference that runs till 21 November in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Piebalgs used the occasion to stress the potential...

FRUIT : POLITICAL AGREEMENT ON SCHOOL FRUIT SCHEME.
November 21, 2008... The EU's agriculture ministers reached a political agreement, on 19 November in Brussels, on the implementation, from the 2009 school year, of a distribution programme for free fruit in EU schools. A total of 90 million will be used each year...

TOBACCO : PRODUCER COUNTRIES WANT SUPPORT SCHEMES TO RUN UNTIL 2013.
November 21, 2008... The ministers of tobacco-growing EU countries adopted, on 4 November in Verona, a joint declaration in which they underline that tobacco growing in Europe does not influence tabagism across the EU. They ask that tobacco be considered as an...

PROMOTION FOR AGRI PRODUCTS.(Brief article)
November 21, 2008... The European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development launched, on 14 November, a call for tender for the conclusion of a framework contract for the organisation of promotion events and high-level trade visits in...

FISHERIES POLICY : STRONGER CONTROL AND SANCTIONS TO MAKE SECTOR ACCOUNTABLE.
November 21, 2008... With 88% of EU fish stocks overexploited (compared with 25% globally), the EU's fisheries control system has demonstrated its ineffectiveness. Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg even recently spoke of a "collective failure" and the "Achilles heel"...

EU/SWITZERLAND : TALKS OPEN ON AGRI-TRADE LIBERALISATION.(Brief article)
November 21, 2008... The EU and Switzerland launched, on 4 November, negotiations aiming at full liberalisation of bilateral trade in agriculture. The talks were opened by Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Mariann Fischer Boel and Swiss Federal...

AGRIFOODS : VERHEUGEN FACING REBUFF ON CHLORINATED CHICKEN.
November 21, 2008... Gunter Verheugen, the EU commissioner for enterprise and industry, has failed to keep the proposal for authorisation of chlorinated chicken from being transmitted to the EU ministers. They are expected to put the matter to a vote soon and will...