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Agriculture and Fisheries Council

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will be representing the UK at this month’s Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels. This being the first Council of the German presidency, the first item on the agenda will be the presentation of the presidency work programme by the new Chairman of the Council. This presentation will lay out the agriculture and fisheries objectives of the German presidency. The Agriculture Commissioner will present a proposal on fruit and vegetables, laying down specific rules and amending certain regulations dealing with the sector. The Council will hold an exchange of views and the United Kingdom will intervene briefly in support of market-based and budget-neutral reforms which extend the common agricultural policy reform process and ensure a sustainable future for the sector. The Commissioner will then present two proposals on the common organisation of the market in cereals, including the large increase in intervention purchasing of maize: one proposal will deliver extra short-term cash to compensate for high interest charges; the other will seek to overcome the problem by allowing the market to operate freely and abolish the intervention for maize. Following the presentation, the Council will hold an exchange of views on the latter proposal. There will be a Ministers only lunch at which the presidency work programme will be discussed. The Council will then return to the agenda following lunch to discuss WTO agricultural negotiations, at the request of France. There will then be a recorded policy debate on a proposal banning the placing on the market or the import into or export from the community of cat and dog fur. The United Kingdom will not intervene on this issue as its position has already been expressed in other fora. A number of issues, as follows, will be raised under ““Any Other Business””: none of which require any intervention by the United Kingdom. There will be an update on the developments on avian influenza H5N1 by the Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner and an update on the EC-Russian Federation veterinary agreement negotiations by the Commissioner and the presidency. Austria will request that the thematic strategy for soil protection be discussed in agricultural as well as environmental fora in Brussels. The United Kingdom will signal its support for that approach. Denmark will request a Council discussion on the implementation of cross-compliance. A number of Mediterranean states will ask for discussion of the serious consequences of drought on the agricultural sector in the Mediterranean area. The Czech Republic will request a discussion of the effects on forestry of last week’s storms across the EU. Latvia will request information on the implementation of the simplified energy crops scheme in the new member states.