Food sector to become competitive in decisive year, commissioner says

IT will be a decisive year for European agriculture, Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel predicted in Berlin yesterday at the start of Green Week, a major international exhibition for the food, agricultural and horticultural industries.

She said proposals to reform the €1.5 billion Common Market Organisation for fruit and vegetables are due to be adopted on January 24 and legislative proposals on wine will follow before the summer.

“These are the last two sectors which are not yet part of the reform process we began in 2003. We need to move away from old-fashioned methods of support and allow producers to become more competitive,” she said.