Agriculture and Fisheries Council (November)

Tuesday 18th December 2012 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr Owen Paterson)]

I attended the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 28 and 29 November in Brussels covering agricultural issues. I was accompanied by the Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr Heath), and the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, responsible for the natural environment, water and rural affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon), who spoke on fisheries issues. Alun Davies AM, Richard Lochhead MSP and Michelle O’Neil MLA also attended.

The substantive business of the Council began with a lunch for agriculture Ministers during which we discussed the topic, proposed by the presidency, of “the current context of CAP reform”. In the course of discussion it became clear that a significant number of member states did not share the presidency’s view that agreement of a “partial general approach” on the CAP reform proposals could be achieved at the December Council. The presidency accordingly indicated that they would instead provide a report of the progress made on the reform package.

Discussion in the formal session of Council covered three aspects of the CAP reform package, addressing a series of questions posed by the presidency to guide discussion.

On greening of direct payments, the presidency sought views on the concept of equivalence, governing any flexibility accorded to member states on how they implemented the requirements. All agreed that an equivalence regime had to be simple, transparent and efficient. Some member states highlighted the need for some form of ex ante approval process to ensure that “equivalent” measures implemented would not subsequently be deemed insufficient by auditors. Several member states stated that it was important to avoid double funding of the same actions through both direct payments, and rural development funding, but there was little clarity on how this would be achieved.

On the regulation governing the Single Common Market Organisation the discussion focused on whether to retain the date of 2015 for ending beet sugar production quota, as agreed in previous reforms, and on vine planting rights. On sugar, some member states wanted to keep to the original agreement and end quotas in 2015, most beet-producing countries wanted to maintain quota until at least 2020 and those countries which conceded quota previously argued to have it returned. The Commission (Ciolos) held firm on its proposal. Member states also raised aspects of the regulation they were unhappy with. These included milk quotas, vine planting rights, marketing standards, reference prices and producer organisations.

On the rural development regulation, member states raised important outstanding issues. Most member states felt this was the closest regulation to agreement but more work was needed on several detailed aspects.

Council considered a Commission proposal to permit the use of lactic acid as an anti-microbial surface treatment. No member state changed its previously indicated position, and the Council offered no opinion. If the European Parliament does not reject the proposal (which now seems likely as the Parliament’s Environment Committee approved it), it will be referred back to the Commission to adopt once the four-month scrutiny period expires on 3 February 2013.

Under any other business a report on the rural development error rate was raised by Commissioner Ciolos. At above 7%, it was the highest error rate across all EU budget lines and well above the materiality threshold of 2%. He identified some reasons why this might be the case and suggested that simplification as part of CAP reform could make implementation simpler.

Spain raised the EU-Morocco agriculture agreement, complaining that import prices for tomatoes from Morocco were below the agreed entry price. In response, the Commission pointed out that this is not unusual for this time of year, concluding that this is an issue for national customs authorities who implement the regulations. Spain acknowledged this but thought the Commission should do more to ensure that the correct levies were being applied throughout the EU.

Austria tabled a short paper on their “New European Food Model”, and a number of member states supported the initiative, despite its absence of clarity on mechanisms. The Commission suggested it would be a good topic for a future informal Agriculture Council, once CAP reform had concluded.

On fisheries business the Council agreed total allowable catches for 2013 and 2014 for deep-sea species. This was agreed by qualified majority vote, with Sweden voting against. In line with UK requests, alongside the final text the Commission tabled a declaration on the need to seek scientific advice on adding the lowfin gulper shark to the list of species defined as deep sea sharks.

On EU/Norway the Council heard an update from the Commission on the first round of talks, and were invited to highlight priorities for the second round taking place 3 to 7 December. The UK underlined the importance of a successful outcome on North sea cod and mackerel.

Under any other business Denmark called for a more streamlined decision-making process for fixing the catch limits for Norway pout. The Netherlands also tabled a paper on their concerns on the technical conditions under the new protocol for the EU/Mauritania fisheries agreement.