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Agriculture and Fisheries Council

I chaired the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 24 and 25 October for the agriculture items on the agenda. My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ben Bradshaw, represented the United Kingdom and also chaired the Council for the fisheries items. My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Jim Knight, represented the United Kingdom for fisheries items. Also in attendance was the Scottish Environment and Rural Affairs Minister, Ross Finnie. The Council reached unanimous political agreement on a regulation for a recovery plan for stocks of Southern hake and Norway lobster in the Cantabrian Sea and Western Iberian peninsula. The Council also reached unanimous political agreement on a draft regulation and set of negotiating directives on Forest Law, Enforcement, Governance and Trade, which will allow the EU to prohibit the import of illegally logged timber from third countries that sign up to a partnership agreement with the EU. The Council held an exchange of views on the preparation of the annual negotiations for the 2006 fisheries agreement between the Community and Norway in order to give the Commission a political mandate for conducting the negotiations. The debate focused on the issues of how many fish the EU and Norway can catch in each other's waters and possible future joint management of shared stocks. Over lunch on Monday, Fisheries Ministers held a constructive discussion on improving Council working methods with regard to the annual agreement of Total Allowable Catches and fishing quotas. A number of ideas were put forward by member states and the Commission will now work up proposals for presentation during 2006. In the absence of a qualified majority in favour or against, the Council was unable to reach decisions on the Commission's proposal to prohibit a Greek ban on the marketing of genetically modified seed variety MON 810 and on Commission proposals for authorisations of the use of maize varieties GA21 and MON 863 in food. In the absence of Council decisions, therefore, the Commission is now free to implement its proposals under its own competence. The Council held a further discussion on Commission proposals to reform the EU sugar regime. Further high level discussions will take place to prepare the ground for trying to secure a deal at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 22 to 24 November. The Council discussed the current round of WTO negotiations informally over lunch and, at the request of France, afterwards as a formal agenda item. The Presidency concluded that the Council had reached a united position in support of the Commission's approach. Under Any Other Business, the Fisheries Commissioner informed the Council of progress in setting up Regional Advisory Councils. The Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection presented a report on the operation of Regulation 1774/02 setting out the use and disposal of animal by-products. He felt that generally the Regulation had worked well and been satisfactorily applied in most Member States, but he identified some areas of improvement for consideration. He also gave an update on the recent cases of Avian Influenza in Europe and announced that the Commission would be tabling a proposal at Standing Committee on 25 October to ban the import of wild captive birds. The Agriculture Commissioner presented her Communication on simplification and better regulation for the Common Agriculture Policy. It aims to improve clarity and reduce administrative burdens for farmers, leading to more effective implementation of the CAP. The plan proposed a process of consultation, culminating in a more detailed action plan next year. I welcomed the report and said that the Presidency hoped to return to the issue at the December Council. France drew the attention of the Council to its case that the term shallots should only apply to specimens grown from bulbs, rather than seeds. The issue is currently the subject of a legal dispute between France and The Netherlands. The Commission explained that it had been working with both countries to find a solution. Greece supported by Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Slovenia, expressed concern at the Commission's intention to open import quotas for olive oil in response to a shortage in the EU. The Commission said it would take a decision after consulting its advisory committee. In the margins of Council the Commission and I held trilateral discussions with Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Belgium, Finland, The Netherlands, Bulgaria, Romania, France, Italy, Malta and Luxembourg to discuss the Commission's sugar reform proposals.