Europe Agri articles from September 2006

Europe Agri archives from September 2006

FISHERIES STOCK : ACTION NEEDED NOW, SAY BLUEFIN TUNA EXPERTS.
September 29, 2006... Stocks of bluefin tuna in the East Atlantic and Mediterranean are heading towards commercial collapse, a situation that requires urgent action, according to participants at a public hearing organised by the European Parliament's Fisheries...

AEGEAN ISLANDS.
September 29, 2006... The EU Agriculture Council adopted on 18 September, without debate, a regulation laying down specific measures on agricultural products to remedy the difficulties caused by the remote and insular nature of the smaller Aegean Islands and...

AGENDA.(Calendar)
September 29, 2006... COUNCIL OF MINISTERS Agriculture and Fisheries Council a a24-25 October Luxembourg Draft agenda on agriculture points: - Commission communication on the reform of the CMO for wine General discussion - Proposal...

RURAL DEVELOPMENT : COMMISSION ALLOCATESa FUNDING FOR 2007-2013.
September 29, 2006... The European Commission decided on 12 September on the annual rural development budget for the 25 member states for the years 2007-2013, totalling 77.662 billion, including additional funding under the compulsory modulation mechanism (reduction...

WINE : COMMISSION DEFENDS WISDOM OF ITS WINE REFORM PROPOSALS.
September 29, 2006... With the 2006 EU wine harvest expected to exceed figures for the past two years, with a volume close to 179 million hectolitres, EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel, appearing on 12 September before the European Parliament's...

VEAL : COMMISSION PROPOSES GREATER TRANSPARENCY IN MARKETING OF VEAL.
September 29, 2006... In an effort to ensure fair competition and avoid misleading consumers, the European Commission tabled a proposal on 21 September drawing a distinction between the two existing types of production of veal in the EU. No reference is made at...

FISHERIES POLICY : COMMISSION PUTS ITS CARDS ON THE TABLE FOR FISHING OPPORTUNITIES.
September 29, 2006... Marking another change in the process used for setting annual Total Allowable Catches (TAC) and quotas for EU fishermen, the European Commission has published a policy statement setting out the guiding principles it intends to apply in its...

ENVIRONMENT : COMMISSION RELEASES STRATEGY ON SOIL PROTECTION.
September 29, 2006... The European Union's environment policy addresses water, waste, chemicals, various forms of air and water pollution and nature protection. While it includes a certain number of provisions on soil protection, these are indirect. The European...

COPA-COGECA.(Brief article)
September 29, 2006... Pekka Pesonen, a Finnish national, was nominated on 14 September for the post of Secretary-General of COPA-COGECA. Pesonen is to succeed Dr Franz-Josef Feiter in directing the Secretariat of European farmers and their cooperatives in Brussels...

FRUIT AND VEGETABLES : COURT OF AUDITORS CALLS FOR REFORM OF AID REGIME.
September 29, 2006... In its special report on aid programmes for fruit and vegetable producers published on 13 September(1), the European Court of Auditors spotlights the member states' attitude in approving measures and operational programmes on the basis of...

RURAL DEVELOPMENT : COURT REPORT HIGHLIGHTS GAPS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT FUNDING.
September 29, 2006... Difficulties in determining the objectives to which funding is allocated, a lack of eligibility criteria, shortcomings in the monitoring system - these are just a few of the problems highlighted by the EU Court of Auditors in its report...

DIRECT AID TO FARMERS.
September 29, 2006... The Management Committee for Direct Payments backed on 19 September a European Commission draft regulation allowing member states to bring forward payments of direct aid to farmers to 16 October from the usual date of 1 December. The proposal...

BANANAS : EU GIVES EXTRA FUNDING TO EUROPEAN BANANA GROWERS.
September 29, 2006... The European Commission proposed on 20 September, and not 13 September as initially expected, to abolish the current compensatory aid scheme for banana growers from 1 January 2007 and to divert funding earmarked over recent years to the aid...

PLANT PROTECTION PRODUCTS : EU MINISTERS HESITANT ABOUT SIMPLIFIED AUTHORISATION PROCEDURES.(European Union)
September 29, 2006... Aalarge majority of EU agriculture ministers at a debate in Brussels on 18 September were highly critical of the key points mentioned in a Commission proposal on thearevision of the regulation relating to plant protection products (pesticides)....

EU/BRAZIL/THAILAND : EU PREPARING TO INTRODUCE QUOTAS FOR CHICKEN CUTS.
September 29, 2006... The European Commission is expected shortly to wrap up negotiations with Thailand and Brazil on the introduction of quotas for chicken cuts from the two countries. Action is needed in order to avoid exports fromThailand and Brazil, which have...

ALCOHOL : FINLAND HOPING FOR AGREEMENT ON VODKA BEFORE LATE OCTOBER.
September 29, 2006... Following final negotiations within theaSpecial Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on 9 and 16 October, the Finnish EU Presidency is hoping to reach an agreement on the definition of vodka. This subject is the most sensitive issue in the current...

EU/US/CHINA : ILLEGAL GM RICE CONFIRMED ON EUROPEAN MARKET.(genetically modified )(Brief article)
September 29, 2006... Doubts concerning the presence on the European market of rice from the United States illegally contaminated with transgenic strain LL601 have been confirmed. Initial tests conducted in France and Sweden have revealed the probable presence of...

TOBACCO CARTEL : ITALIAN PROCESSING COMPANY ESCAPES FINE FOR NOW.
September 29, 2006... In a rare and unexpected decision, the President of the European Court of Justice's Court of First Instance accepted the partialasuspension of payment of the fine imposed on Romana Tabacchi. This Italianaraw tobacco processing company was...

LACTALIS-NESTLE JOINT VENTURE CLEARED.
September 29, 2006... The European Commission has cleared the creation of a joint venture by France's Lactalis (dairy products) and Switzerland's Nestle (food industry). Under the proposed transaction, the parties would transfer their chilled dairy desserts...

GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS : MEMBER STATES AGAIN UNDECIDED ABOUT OILSEED RAPE.(Brief article)
September 29, 2006... Yet again, it will up to the European Commission in the next few days to decide finally whether or not to authorise the marketing of two varieties of a genetically modified oilseed rape and one hybrid of the two varieties. During the...

CONSUMER POLICY : MEMBER STATES AGREE TO SIMPLIFY LEGISLATION ON PREPACKAGING.
September 29, 2006... EU member states have reached a political agreement, on the basis of a compromise tabled by the Finnish Presidency, on the repeal of the EU regulation on the prepackaged format of some 60 products (liquids and solids) sold in the EU, such as...

COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY : MEMBER STATES LAUNCH DEBATE ON FUTURE OF CAP.
September 29, 2006... The European Model of Agriculture - Challenges Ahead: this wasthe theme chosen by Finnish Minister Juha Korkeaoja for the informal meeting ofaEU agriculture ministers from 24 to 26 September in Oulu, Finland. Discussions focused in particular...

ANIMAL PROTECTION : MEPS BACK POLICY ON ANIMAL WELFARE.
September 29, 2006... MEPs on the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee voted unanimously on September 12 to adopt an own-initiative report on animal welfare, strongly supporting proposals by Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou. The...

MILK LEVY.
September 29, 2006... In order to improve budgetary forecasting and make budgetary management more flexible, the levyain the milk and milk products sector, introduced by Regulation EC 1788/2003, is now due to be paid in the period running from 16 October to 30...

PLANT PROTECTION PRODUCTS.(Brief article)
September 29, 2006... The EU Agriculture Council opposed on 18 September to the proposals for directives concerning the inclusion under strict condition of azinphosmethyl and vinclozolin as active substances in the positive list of Directive 91/414/EEC on the...

PLANT PROTECTION PRODUCTS.(Brief article)
September 29, 2006... Following the Council's rejection on 26 July of the Commission's proposalsaon six active substances for use in plant protection products? the Commission resubmitted the amended proposals on 13 September.aFor two active substances (dinocap and...

AGRICULTURE/ENERGY : PROJECT TO IMPROVE AID SYSTEM FOR ENERGY CROPS.(Brief article)
September 29, 2006... The European Commission adopted a proposal, accompanied by a report, on 22 September with the aim of introducing specific improvements to the particularly complicated aid system for energy crops. The mechanism was first implemented in 2004. The...

REPORT ON RURAL DEVELOPMENT.
September 29, 2006... The European Commission published on 14 September a new report which provides, at national and regional levels, statistical and economic information covering the three objectives of Rural Development Policy 2007-2013: improving the...

REVIVING THE WTO TALKS.(World Trade Organisation)(Brief article)
September 29, 2006... The Cairns Group of agricultural exporters calls for the resumption of talks on a global trade deal and demands the European Union and the United States make deeper cuts to farm aid. The 18-nation grouping, whose members account for 25% of...

WTO : RIO MEETING CALLS FOR RELAUNCH OF DOHA.
September 29, 2006... Delegates attending a meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 10 September - the first since the suspension of the Doha Round - each in turn called for a relaunch of negotiations. However, they did not indicate how a more positive outcome might be...

REGIONS : RURAL COMMUNITIES SPEAK OUT.(Brief article)
September 29, 2006... A new association representing rural communities in the EU is about to be created. This was agreed in principle during a conference organised by the EU Committee of the Regions (CoR) on 14 September. The initiative came from Olivier Bertrand,...

BLUE TONGUE DISEASE : TOO EARLY TO EASE SURVEILLANCE.
September 29, 2006... Most of the EU agriculture ministers flatly refused Belgium's request, at the Council of 18 September, for an easing of the embargo on areas affected by blue tongue disease. Authorising trade in ruminants destined for slaughter from the...

FOOD LEGISLATION : TRAINING OF HEALTH INSPECTORS TO BE HARMONISED.
September 29, 2006... Legislation on food is now set at European level. It is logical that training for health inspectors in the EU and non-EU countries exporting food to Europe should also be provided at this level. This observation has led the European Commission,...

FISHERIES POLICY : TYING UP LOOSE ENDS WITH DEFINITION ON DRIFT NETS.
September 29, 2006... Despite being notorious among environmentalists for their impact on whales and dolphins, drift nets, a fishing method restricted by several different EU regulations, have not until now actually been formally defined at European level -...

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : WINE-PRODUCING COUNTRIES WANT TO STAY IN CHARGE OF GRUBBING UP'.
September 29, 2006... EU agriculture ministers from wine-producing countries are insisting that they be granted more room for manoeuvre when the reform of the Common Organisation of the Market (COM) for wine is carried out. Their comments came at an Agriculture...