Europe Agri articles from September 2007

Europe Agri archives from September 2007

AGENDA.
September 14, 2007... Council of Ministers Agriculture Council The following points will be discussed at this session: - Presidency Work Programme. Presentation - Proposal for a Council Decision concerning the placing on the market of a potato...

DOHA ROUND : CONSULTATIONS RESUME IN GENEVA.(Brief article)
September 14, 2007... Following the August summer break, consultations intended to relaunch the Doha Round of international trade negotiations have resumed at the World Trade Organisation in an atmosphere of scepticism. The negotiations on agriculture, one of the...

CONSUMERS/PRODUCT SAFETY : KUNEVA POSITIVE ABOUT DISCUSSIONS WITH CHINESE AUTHORITIES IN BEIJING.
September 14, 2007... The EU's Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva delivered a firm message to the Chinese authorities responsible for the safety of food and goods during her first visit to Beijing, which will last from July 22 to July 26. Her two...

ANIMAL HEALTH : UK AVOIDS THE WORST IN THE FACE OF FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE.
September 14, 2007... The spread in early August through the south-east London countryside of a strain of foot and mouth disease kept for the development of vaccinations by the European reference laboratory in Pirbright (Surrey) will ultimately only have limited...

INFORMAL ENVIRONMENT COUNCIL : WATER SCARCITY AND DROUGHT AT THE CENTRE OF DEBATE.
September 14, 2007... Catastrophic floods in the UK, droughts and devastating fires in Greece and other southern and central European countries: by putting the water problem on the agenda of the informal meeting of EU environment ministers, who will be in Lisbon...

BIOFUELS : 10% BIOFUELS TARGET WILL NOT DISRUPT AGRICULTURAL MARKETS.
September 14, 2007... The European Commission has published a 10-page impact assessment of the effect, on agricultural markets in 2020, of a 10% biofuels target in the EU-27. Not surprisingly, the Commission argues that the binding 10% target for biofuels, as a...

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT NAMES.
September 14, 2007... The European Commission added, on 30 August, four names of agricultural and food products to the list of protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI). The four names are for the French cheese...

DOHA ROUND : AGRICULTURE NEGOTIATORS HAVE UNTIL MID-OCTOBER TO MAKE PROGRESS.
September 14, 2007... The World Trade Organisation's negotiating group on agriculture has been given till mid-October to resolve the stalemate that the Doha Round discussions have reached. If consultations do not allow a relaunch by then, the negotiations will sink,...

AGRI-FOOD EXPORTS.(Brief article)
September 14, 2007... A consultation on EU agri-food export interests was held on 25 June in Brussels, with 78 exporters from a wide range of member states taking part. It comes in the context of the EU's negotiations towards Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with...

HEALTH : ALCOHOL RISKS: EP ABANDONS DEMANDING COMMON RULES.
September 14, 2007... The European Parliament has abandoned asking for common labelling rules on risks linked to alcohol. In its place, MEPs adopted by an overwhelming majority an amendment to the own-initiative report by Alessandro Foglietta (UEN, Italy) on 5...

AVIAN FLU IN BAVARIA.
September 14, 2007... The European Commission was informed by the German authorities on 24 August of an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza on a duck farm in Bavaria, in a region where infected wild birds were detected in July and early August. The German...

GMOS : BATTLE LOOMS WITH WARSAW OVER GMOS.(European Union. European Commission)(genetically modified organisms)
September 14, 2007... The future of regions that demand the right to remain free from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) will be played out in part in the legal battle the European Commission will be waging with Poland over interpretation of the Directive on the...

EU/CHINA : BEIJING INTRODUCES TOUGHER PRODUCT STANDARDS.(Brief article)
September 14, 2007... CIQ, or China Inspection & Quarantine', reads the label to be affixed on food exported by China as a way of reassuring consumers worldwide. Indeed, consumer confidence in products made in China has eroded considerably in recent months. ...

BIOETHANOL JV GETS GO-AHEAD.
September 14, 2007... The European Commission cleared on 30 August the creation of a joint venture, Vivergo, by the British firms BP plc (energy) and Associated British Foods Plc (food and food ingredients). Vivergo will design, build and operate a bioethanol plant...

COMMON MARKET ORGANISATIONS : COMMISSION PROPOSES ONE-YEAR DEFERRAL ON CMO FOR FLAX AND HEMP.
September 14, 2007... The European Commission considers that the future of the Common Market Organisation for textile plants flax and hemp should be reviewed as part of the check-up of the Common Agricultural Policy in 2008-2009 and not at the end of the next...

STATE AID : COMMISSION RAISES CEILING ON FISHERIES DE MINIMIS' AID.
September 14, 2007... In a new Commission Regulation adopted on 24 July, the ceiling on state aid for the fisheries sector was set at 30,000 (up from 3,000 previously) per three-year period, per beneficiary, on condition that, in total, the aid package represents...

EU/US/DOHA : CONGRESS MOVES TO RAISE FARM SUBSIDY LEVELS.
September 14, 2007... The odds of making a breakthrough in the troubled Doha round of world trade talks seem to be lengthening by the day. Just as the EU and its other trading partners step up the pressure on the US administration to slash farm spending levels, the...

CONSULTATION ON FISHING RIGHTS.
September 14, 2007... The European Commission has decided to extend until 30 September 2007 a consultation on rights-based fisheries management, launched in February of this year. In 2008, it is due to present a summary of the responses and possibly propose new...

CEREALS : CROP YIELDS HIT BY ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS.
September 14, 2007... A total cereal harvest of 276 million tonnes is forecast for the EU in 2007 - 1.6% below the average of the last five years, with central and eastern Europe losing out the most. This is the central prediction in the European Commission's annual...

DG AGRICULTURE.
September 14, 2007... The Commission has appointed Loretta Dormal to the post of Deputy Director-General in the Agriculture and Rural Development Directorate-General. Dormal, a 57-year-old Italian, is currently Director at the Competition DG, a position she has held...

EU AUTHORISES FIPRONIL.(European Union)(Brief article)
September 14, 2007... Fipronil has just been added to the list of plant protection substances authorised by the European Commission for the production of insecticides. The decision will take effect on 1 October and remain in force for ten years. The Commission had...

BIOTECHNOLOGY : FIGURES SHOW EU BIOTECH COMPANIES OUTSTRIPPED BY US RIVALS.
September 14, 2007... European biotechnology companies are being outpaced by their US competitors both in terms of R&D investment and the scale of their operations, it has been revealed in a new set of figures published by the European Commission. The figures...

AGRICULTURAL AIDS : FISCHER BOEL PROPOSES MORE FLEXIBLE AID RULES.
September 14, 2007... Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel presented, on 29 August, a proposal aimed at simplifying the cross-compliance scheme for agricultural aid. The mechanism, introduced with the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in 2003, is...

AGRICULTURE : FISCHER BOEL SURPRISED BY RISING FOOD PRICES.
September 14, 2007... In an entry on her blog referring to soaring food prices in August, particularly in the dairy and grain sectors, Mariann Fischer Boel reflects that such a situation would have been unimaginable a year ago. The agriculture commissioner feels...

RURAL DEVELOPMENT : GREEN LIGHT FOR MORE RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES.
September 14, 2007... The Rural Development Committee approved, on 25 July, the rural development programmes submitted by Germany, Ireland, Italy (two regions), Northern Ireland, Poland and Slovenia for the 2007-2013 funding period. The European Commission still has...

FISHERIES POLICY : MEPS: APPLYING MAXIMUM SUSTAINABLE YIELD WOULD BE "PREMATURE".
September 14, 2007... For the European Parliament, a strict application of the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) to European fisheries would result in a considerable reduction in activity, employment and income for the Community fleet. Following the rapporteur Carmen...

SUGAR : MEPS DEFEND THE SUGAR SECTOR.
September 14, 2007... MEPs are generally in favour of the European Commission's proposals of May 2007 to reform the sugar sector but, in order to avoid an arbitrary reduction of quotas which would penalise the various stakeholders of the European sugar industry,...

MODELLING WORK IN AGRICULTURE.
September 14, 2007... The European Commission has launched a call for tender for a study on modelling work in the field of agriculture. The Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) has been using the European Simulation Model...

BALTIC SEA : MOST BALTIC QUOTAS WILL HAVE TO BE CUT.(European Union. European Commission)
September 14, 2007... The state of cod stocks in the Baltic is still serious cause for concern. Western stocks, which used to be stronger than eastern Baltic stocks, have again fallen outside safe biological limits. Similarly, the survival rate of young salmon is...

NEW AGRICULTURAL DESIGNATIONS.(Brief article)
September 14, 2007... On 21 August, the European Commission added three designations of agricultural and food products to the list of protected designation of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indication (PGI). The products in question are the Italian rice...

NEW FOOT AND MOUTH CASE IN THE UK.
September 14, 2007... While British experts were convinced that the August foot and mouth epidemic was history, London confirmed, on 12 September, the discovery of a new outbreak in south-east England on a farm in Surrey. Biosecurity measures are being applied. ...

FISHERIES POLICY : PENALTIES FOR INFRINGEMENTS: THE COMMISSION SOUNDS OFF.
September 14, 2007... In a report adopted on 25 July, the European Commission blasts the member states' lack of transparency, low detection rates and the low level of fines imposed on offenders in their handling of infringements against Common Fisheries Policy rules...

PROSPECTS FOR AGRI-MARKETS.
September 14, 2007... The Prospects for agricultural markets and income 2007-2014', published by the European Commission in August, covers cereals, oilseeds, sugar, meat, eggs, milk and the main dairy products. The medium-term projections depict a favourable...

RURAL DEVELOPMENT.
September 14, 2007... The European Commission has launched, on 24 July, a call for tender for a synthesis of ex ante evaluations of rural development programmes 2007-2013. Following Council Regulation 1698/2005, 94 ex ante evaluations for a geographical region...

SEAS AT RISK LOSES FUNDING.(Brief article)
September 14, 2007... Seas at Risk, an umbrella non-governmental organisation for environmental groups working to protect Europe's seas and their ecosystems, has announced that it will have to suspend its activities because the European Commission has decided to cut...

SUSPECTED BANANA CARTEL.(Brief article)
September 14, 2007... The European Commission has confirmed that a statement of objections was sent at the end of July to a number of companies, including importers, alleging their participation in a cartel for the sale of bananas in violation of Article 81 of the...

FISHERIES POLICY : WARSAW AND COMMISSION CLASH OVER COD FISHING.
September 14, 2007... In a message sent to EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg, Poland's Minister for Maritime Affairs, Rafal Wiechecki, challenges the decision approved on 7 July by the European Commission to close the Baltic Sea cod fishing grounds and is...

EU/ACP : ACP STATES INSIST ON SUGAR PROTOCOL'S ADVANTAGES.(African, Caribbean, Pacific)
September 28, 2007... With almost three months before the 1 January 2008 deadline for concluding the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA), the sugar-producing countries of the ACP (African, Caribbean, Pacific) group are joining forces to have the EU retain their...

AGRICULTURAL TRADE STATISTICS.
September 28, 2007... A new edition of Agricultural trade statistics' has just been published on EUROPA. Based on Eurostat data, it provides a thousand tables and graphs describing the European Union's agricultural trade position in the world as well as detailed...

AGRIFOOD JV GETS GO AHEAD.
September 28, 2007... The European Commission approved on 18 September the proposal for establishment of a joint venture in France after a share acquisition in a new company founded by Ineos Enterprises Limited (UK), Champagne Cereales (France) and C.Thywissen GmbH...

ANIMAL DISEASE MEASURES.(Brief article)
September 28, 2007... A number of European Commission decisions on animal disease control measures were backed by the Standing Committee for the Food Chain and Animal Health on 12 September. Member states agreed to a new restriction zone for Germany, following...

AGRICULTURE/ENERGY : BIOFUELS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CEREALS PRICE HIKE, ASSOCIATION SAYS.
September 28, 2007... Reacting to the proposal by the European Commission to abolish set aside obligations, for at least one year, the European Bioethanol Fuel Association (eBIO) has stressed that biofuels production is not responsible for higher cereals prices....

VETERINARY RESEARCH : BIRD FLU VACCINE SHOWS PROMISE.
September 28, 2007... The FLUPAN project, supported by 2.1 million from the EU's 5th Research Framework Programme, has brought together research teams from the UK, Italy, Norway and France to develop the first ever human candidate vaccine against the potentially...

ANIMAL HEALTH : BLUETONGUE STRIKES BRITAIN.
September 28, 2007... The United Kingdom's physical separation from the continent has not sheltered it from bluetongue. The midge that transmits the disease to farm animals has crossed the English Channel and contaminated a site in Suffolk, in East England. The case...

CAP HEALTH CHECK' GETS UNDERWAY.(Brief article)
September 28, 2007... The European Commission's services have just launched the health check' of the Common Agricultural Policy, Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel announced on 16 September in Porto, at an informal meeting of EU agricultural ministers The agriculture...

AGRICULTURAL POLICY : COMMISSION PROPOSES ZERO SET-ASIDE RATE FOR 2008.
September 28, 2007... In a bid to ease tight cereal supplies, the European Commission proposed on 13 September to reduce to zero the set-aside rate for autumn 2007 and spring 2008 sowings. Given that some arable crops will be sown already during the autumn of 2007,...

COURT REJECTS GRANA TRADEMARK APPLICATION.
September 28, 2007... Grana' is not a generic denomination and is protected at the Community level, considers the EU Court of First Instance (CFI). In its judgement delivered on 12 September (Case T-291/03), the CFI cancelled a decision by the Appeals Chamber of the...

FISHERIES POLICY : EU BANS BLUEFIN TUNA FISHING.
September 28, 2007... The European Commission decided, on 19 September, to close the fishery for bluefin tuna in the Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. This closure concerns Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Spain as the other two states involved, Italy and...

ANIMAL HEALTH : EU WANTS PROTECTION AGAINST "DEVASTATING" THREATS.
September 28, 2007... "The repercussions of epizootics such as avian flu or foot and mouth disease could be devastating to cattle farmers and the economy as a whole, whether it be on a countrywide, continent-wide or even worldwide scale," warns the European...

DOHA ROUND : EU WELCOMES NEW US FLEXIBILITY ON AGRICULTURE.
September 28, 2007... The EU has applauded the new flexibility on agriculture being shown by the United States in the World Trade Organisation Doha Round negotiations, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in the talks in the coming weeks. "This is a positive...

ENVIRONMENT : FRANCE AVOIDS FINE OVER WATER POLLUTION IN BRITTANY.
September 28, 2007... Subsequent to France imposing an adequate regulatory framework to ensure that the Surface Water Directive is respected, the European Commission, on 12 September, decided to suspend its June decision to refer France to the EU Court of Justice...

IRISH AFFORESTATION SCHEME APPROVED.
September 28, 2007... The European Commission has authorised Ireland to pay national aid worth more than 900 million over the period 2007 to 2013 to encourage afforestation. Ireland has the second lowest rate of forest cover in the European Union, at just 10% of the...

LAVERDA SALE GETS GREEN LIGHT.
September 28, 2007... The Commission granted clearance on 14 September to the acquisition of joint control of Laverda S.p.A. (Italy) by AGCO Deutschland Holding Limited & Co. KG (Germany), belonging to the AGCO Corporation (US), and ARGO S.p.A. (Italy). AGCO...

MEASURES FOR BULGARIAN MILK AND MEAT ESTABLISHMENTS.
September 28, 2007... The Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health voted on 12 September in favour of granting transitional periods till the end of 2009 to 378 meat and 208 milk establishments in Bulgaria, so that they have more time to make the...

DAIRY PRODUCTS : MEMBER STATES CLOSE TO AGREEMENT ON MILK MINI-PACKAGE.
September 28, 2007... From 1 January 2008, Europe's supermarkets may be selling milk that is neither skimmed, nor semi-skimmed, nor whole. Indeed, the EU is preparing to end the exclusive use of those three categories of products on supermarket shelves by allowing...

PESTICIDES : MEPS SEE NEED FOR TOUGHER RULES ON NEW PESTICIDE PRODUCTS.
September 28, 2007... The draft regulation updating provisions on the authorisation of new pesticides, once amended by MEPs, creates a win-win situation. It reduces risks for consumers, users and the environment, while at the same time stimulating innovation in the...

AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : MINISTERS DISCUSS LEVIES AND QUOTAS AHEAD OF CAP CHECK-UP.
September 28, 2007... The informal meeting of EU agriculture ministers from 16 to 18 September in Porto was an opportunity for many member states to emphasise the importance that rural development policies must take in the future. But the EU27 and the European...

FISHERIES POLICY : POLAND OUTRAGED OVER COD FISHING BAN IN THE BALTIC.
September 28, 2007... Poland is contesting the European Commission's decisions and proposals on cod fishing in the Baltic Sea, and Polish Fisheries Minister Rafal Wiechecki came to Brussels in person on 17 September to make his objections known to Fisheries...

DOHA ROUND : PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURE NEGOTIATIONS.
September 28, 2007... The agricultural section of the Doha Round international trade negotiations has been progressing in recent weeks, confirmed the chair of the World Trade Organisation's agriculture negotiations, Crawford Falconer, on 21 September, giving...

PROTECTED PRODUCT NAMES.(Brief article)
September 28, 2007... The European Commission added on 12 September four names of agricultural and food products to the list of protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI). They are Castagna Cuneo' (PGI) and Asparago Bianco...

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS : REPORT FINDS LOOPHOLES IN CHECKS ON EXPORT REFUND CONSIGNMENTS.
September 28, 2007... Customs checks on consignments of agricultural products which are subject to export refunds are proving not very effective and Community regulations on the matter should be adapted. These are the main findings of a report on the subject...

VEHICLE INDUSTRY : STATE AID TO ROMANIAN TRACTOR COMPANY UNDER INVESTIGATION.
September 28, 2007... Aid from the Romanian authorities in the context of the privatisation of the tractor company Tractorul and its sale to Flavus Investments SRL in July 2007 could breach EU rules on state aid. The European Commission therefore opened a formal...

FOODSTUFFS : STUDY CRITICISES APPROVAL SYSTEM FOR NEW FOOD PRODUCTS.
September 28, 2007... Investing in new food products and food ingredients does not make economic sense in the context of European regulations which currently govern this sector (Regulation CE 258/97). This is the conclusion of a study(1) published on 18 September by...

TENDER FOR STUDY ON AGRICULTURAL LAND MARKETS.(Brief article)
September 28, 2007... The European Commission launched on 19 September a call for tender for a study on the Functioning of land markets in the EU member states under the influence of measures applied under the Common Agricultural Policy'. The establishment of the...

RURAL DEVELOPMENT : TEN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES IN SIX COUNTRIES APPROVED.
September 28, 2007... The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) will spend 11.6 billion on ten programmes in six member states. On 20 September, the Rural Development Committee gave a positive opinion to the rural development programmes of...

TRACEABILITY FOR ANIMAL BY-PRODUCTS.(Brief article)
September 28, 2007... At the meeting of the Standing Committee for the Food Chain and Animal Health on 11 September, member states endorsed a proposal by the European Commission which aims to improve the traceability of animal by-products through identification and...

FARM AID : TRANSPARENCY OF FARM AID IS A MATTER OF DISPUTE.
September 28, 2007... Who is responsible for publishing the list of beneficiaries of aid under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)? Is it the member states or the European Commission? That is the question over which some large member states came to disagreement...

US AGRICULTURE SECRETARY QUITS.
September 28, 2007... A pivotal US figure in the Doha Round of world trade talks, US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns resigned on 19 September. Johanns is thought to have stepped down to become the Republican Party candidate in upcoming US Senate elections in...

WINE : WINE MARKET REFORM UNDER FIRE AGAIN.
September 28, 2007... The policy for the wine sector proposed by the European Commission in July is not ambitious enough on promotion, stirs up quarrels between northern and southern EU producer countries and attaches too much importance to a transfer of credits...

FERTILISER : YARA BUY OF KEMIRA GROWHOW GETS CONDITIONAL GREEN LIGHT.
September 28, 2007... In view of the remedies proposed by the parties, the European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of Finnish mineral fertiliser producer Kemira GrowHow by Yara (Norway), also a fertiliser company, subject to commitments. The...