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Agriculture and Fisheries Council

My noble Friend Lord Henley represented the United Kingdom at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels on 17 March. The meeting began with one minute's silence in respect of the suffering in Japan. Potential health implications for the EU as a consequence of the Japanese earthquake and subsequent nuclear incidents were discussed. The Commission confirmed it was monitoring events in Japan closely, but that currently they posed no risk to the health of EU citizens. Member states will be kept informed of any developments through the usual EU food safety rapid notification systems. The presidency presented draft conclusions on CAP reform to the Council, in which it had made efforts to accommodate member states' concerns and the text was much improved. However a number of countries, including the UK, retained serious reservations on the draft conclusions for a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, reasons; in the UK's case, because of concerns that the text did not make sufficiently clear the need for budgetary restraint and was insufficiently ambitious on the need for reform of direct payments. The presidency attempted to find further compromise text changes, but disappointingly focused only on the issue of allocation of resources between the older and newer member states. The presidency concluded that it could not find consensus in the Council and adopted the amended text as presidency conclusions, supported by a majority of member states. The conclusions were not supported by the UK, Sweden, Latvia, Denmark, Estonia, Malta, Greece and Lithuania. The proposed authorisation of three genetically modified crops (one cotton and two maize) was referred to Council. The Commission clarified that these were not intended for cultivation within the EU and that the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) opinion had been favourable. The United Kingdom lifted its parliamentary scrutiny reserve and voted in favour. The Commission agreed to consider a request from Denmark for a proposal to address the issue of residues in foodstuffs. The presidency concluded that the Commission could finalise their decision-making process as there was no clear qualified majority in favour or against any of the proposals. The Commission presented the findings from the dairy quarterly report showing a continuing positive trend for dairy in the EU. An extended advisory group will meet before the end of June and publish its outcomes on the Commission's report recommendations on the soft-landing for the dairy sector. There were four items under other business:"ED policy on animal welfare. The Commission explained that it was considering a range of options for future EU animal welfare policy; it hoped to publish a new strategy in December 2011. A report on the welfare of animals during transport will be published in October 2011.""The Netherlands introduced a note calling for an ambitious trade deal with Mercosur, but noted the importance of EU agricultural interests. The Commission reaffirmed its commitment to transparency in negotiations and to a balanced deal which must comprise a reciprocal level of ambition, be consistent with CAP reform objectives and in which the EU should not pay twice.""The Netherlands presented a paper, co-sponsored by nearly all member states, on CAP simplification, identifying principles which should inform the CAP post-2013. The Commission said that the cost of the future CAP must be proportional to its objectives and that all future measures must be based on both an impact assessment and the collective appetite for risk.""Spain (supported by Cyprus, Italy, Greece, France, Poland and Portugal) called for private storage aid to be triggered in order to deal with the problem of surplus olive oil production that had lowered market prices. The Commission pointed out that there had to be either evidence of serious market disruption, or that the market price had fallen below the trigger point, before such measures could be taken. However it was monitoring the market and will discuss matters at the next examination committee." Ministers discussed institutional questions in relation to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, including the forthcoming election of a new director general, over lunch. The presidency noted that decisions on this appointment were in member states competence.