EU begins vital sugar reform task
The latest document was described yesterday as “a first compromise text” by the European Commission, which said it will be the basis for discussions that will continue over the coming days.
Fisheries is the first major item on the agenda for the Farm Council when it convenes this morning and formal negotiations on the radical sugar reforms may not be reached until tomorrow.
However, a series of bilateral and trilateral meetings are likely to take place beforehand in a bid to break the negotiations logjam and broker a deal ahead of a world trade talks ministerial conference in Hong Kong next month.
Ireland is one of 11 member states opposed to the Commission’s package, which proposes a 39% price cut in the institutional price for sugar, a corresponding reduction in the minimum price for sugar beet and 60% compensation to farmers for the price cut. Farmers in Ireland have warned it will be uneconomic to grow beet at €25 per tonne and they will be forced out of an industry that has been a cornerstone of tillage production here for 80 years.
Minister Mary Coughlan, who will lead the Irish negotiating team, said it is a very serious issue and the negotiations are very complex and complicated.
“As they stand, I do not agree with the European Commission proposals. I feel that they are unfair and unbalanced,” she said.
Ms Coughlan said she is working with a group of 10 other member states in what is known as a blocking minority, indicative of the fact they are not happy with what is on the table.
A delegation from the Irish Farmers’ Association, headed by John Dillon, president, will be in Brussels to monitor the progress of the negotiations.
Meanwhile, European Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said it is crucial the 25 farm ministers reach a decision this week.
The Commission was continuing intensive contacts with all member states to bring as many of them on board as possible.
Ms Fischer Boel said: “There is no alternative to far-reaching reform. If we change now, we do so on our own terms, with money in the pot to ease the pain.
“If we fail to act, a reform will be forced upon us over which we will have little control, and which will hit the most competitive producers hardest.”
Ms Fischer Boel warned any delay will undermine the funding for restructuring and social compensation. The proposals made will put EU sugar production on a sustainable long-term footing.
“We offer generous compensation for farmers, included in the single farm payment. We offer a generous restructuring fund to assist those wishing to leave the sector.”
Ms Fischer Boel said the current system holds EU prices at three times world market levels, which is totally unsustainable.
Meanwhile, 18 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries which supply sugar to the EU warned they stand to lose up to €300 million a year under proposals to cut sugar prices by 39% over four years. Known as the ACP group, they recently called for a 19% compromise price cut.
