Voorbereiding Landbouw en Visserijraad oktober (en)

The Agriculture & Fisheries Council will meet in Luxembourg on Monday 22 (starting at 11 a.m.) and Tuesday 23 October, under the Presidency of Mr Jaime Silva, Minister for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries.

Council will start with the only Food Safety and Animal Health issue followed by Agriculture items. Fisheries points will be dealt with on Tuesday.

The points on the agenda are:

Food Safety and Animal Health

Animal health strategy

Under the motto "Prevention is better than cure", the Commission adopted on 19 September a Communication (see IP/07/1357 ) setting out the EU's animal health strategy for 2007-13. The Communication provides the framework for animal health measures over the next 6 years, taking into account extensive feedback from stakeholders and potential challenges in the future. The aim is to put greater focus on precautionary measures, disease surveillance, controls and research, in order to reduce the incidence of animal disease and minimise the impact of outbreaks when they occur. The Communication also stresses that all those with an interest in animal health with have clear responsibilities in ensuring that the goals of the new strategy are met, so that the EU's animal health policy is as robust, efficient and effective as possible in the years ahead. It also highlights the need for an integrated approach in animal health policy-making, inter-linking it with other Community policies.

Commissioner Kyprianou will present the Communication to the Council.

For information on animal health strategy, see:

http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/diseases/strategy/index_en.htm

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  Protection of animals during transport (Swedish request)

Agriculture

Reform of the wine sector

On 4 July 2007, the European Commission adopted proposals for a wide-ranging reform of the Common Market Organisation for wine. This follows more than one year's discussion with all parties on the ideas launched in the June 2006 Communication. This aims to increase the competitiveness of EU producers, win back markets, balance supply and demand, simplify the rules, preserve the best traditions of EU wine production, reinforce the social fabric of rural areas and respect the environment. Key to the reform will be making better use of the budget (€1.3 billion), which will remain at the current level. Under the proposals, all the inefficient market support measures - various aids for distillation, private storage aid, export refunds - would be abolished from day one. The addition of sugar to enrich wine - chaptalisation - would be banned, and aid for must for enrichment, introduced to compensate for the higher cost compared to chaptalisation, would also be abolished. Crisis distillation would be replaced by two crisis management measures, paid for from national financial envelopes. Much more money would go into promoting EU wine, particularly on third country markets. For a five-year transitional period, planting restrictions would be kept in place and uncompetitive producers would have the possibility to leave the sector with attractive financial support. After 2013, restrictions on planting would be lifted to allow competitive producers to expand their production if they so choose. Labelling rules would be made simpler, certain wine making practices accepted by all producer countries in the International Organisation of Vine and Wine would be adopted by the EU and quality policy would be based on a geographical origin approach. Member States would receive a national financial envelope and a menu of actions to allow them to take measures best suited to the local situation. More money would go into Rural Development to fund measures including the setting up of young wine producers and environmental protection.

The proposal for the reform, a press release, an impact assessment, a fact sheet and further information on the reform are available on the internet at:

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/capreform/wine/index_en.htm

Council will have a policy debate on the reform proposal, focussing on certain aspects of the proposal (planting rights, national envelopes, ...)

Financing of the CAP

On 20 March 2007, the Commission adopted a proposal for an amendment to the Regulation on the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy ( COM(2007) 122). The aim of the proposal is to make it possible to implement the requirement to publish information on beneficiaries of EU funds in the agriculture sector, as foreseen in the new Financial Regulation.

This is the latest step in the European Transparency Initiative, launched by the Commission in 2005.

The Council is expected to adopt the Commission proposal

For information on financing of the CAP, see

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/fin/index_en.htm

And on the European Transparency Initiative see:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/kallas/transparency_en.htm

Drought: National aid in Romania

Following the severe drought situation in the first half of 2007, Romania has asked for the agreement of the Council on the granting of state aid.

The aid would enable more than 250 000 farmers to be compensated for insufficient harvests and prepare for the spring sowing. The level of the state aid is € 400 million.

The Council has to decide by unanimity on such exceptional state aid.

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  Situation of the pig meat market (Polish request)

Fisheries

Fishing opportunities and associated conditions for certain fish stocks and groups of fish stocks applicable in the Baltic Sea for 2008

On 3 September, the Commission tabled a proposal on fishing possibilities and associated measures for a number of fish stocks in the Baltic Sea for 2008. This proposal was made on the basis of the most up-to-date scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), which was then reviewed by the Commission's own Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee on Fisheries (STECF), together with input from stakeholders, in particular from the Baltic Regional Advisory Council.

Scientists warned that the condition of the two cod stocks in the Baltic continue to give serious cause for concern, and have again recommended the complete closure of the eastern fishery. Council adopted a multi-annual plan for these cod stocks last June. Given the provisions in this plan, which will enter into force on 1 January 2008, the Commission has proposed a reduction of 23% in the EU quota for eastern Baltic cod, from 40 805 tonnes to 31 561 tonnes, and of 33% in the TAC on western Baltic cod, from 26 696 tonnes to 17 930 tonnes. These proposals are in line with the long term plan's objective of reducing fishing mortality by 10% each year, while also reflecting the gravity of the latest scientific advice concerning the status of the stock and the high levels of misreporting in the Eastern Baltic..

Control remains a central problem for this fishery. The Commission will therefore use all available means to ensure proper implementation by all Member States of the control and monitoring measures listed in the multi-annual plan and the establishment of management mechanisms for next year. The Commission is currently drafting a proposal to establish a specific control and inspection programme in the Baltic Sea region, so as to target the control activities of the Member States concerned more effectively.

A range of technical measures for fisheries in which cod are taken are also proposed, so as to achieve a 10% decrease in fishing effort for certain gears to accompany the reductions in TACs. The Member States concerned may grant aid to the operators affected by these measures under the European Fisheries Fund (EFF).

ICES also advised that the stock of salmon in the main Baltic basin is showing signs of fragility, due to a very low survival rate for juvenile fish (at the post-smolt stage). As a result, the adult population of this stock is set to decline substantially over the next few years. The Commission has therefore proposed a 15% reduction in the salmon fishing possibilities, from 428 697 individual fish in 2007 to 364 392 fish in 2008.

Most pelagic stocks saw very high recruitment rates in 2003-2004, but since then the number of young fish joining the stocks has been returning to more normal levels. The Commission has proposed reductions in the TACs for sprat and herring stocks in the Gulf of Riga and subdivisions 30 and 31, offset partly by an increase of 11% in the TAC for herring in the central Baltic, which continues to do well. The western Baltic herring is suffering weak recruitment. Furthermore, this stock is partly fished together with herring from the North Sea stock, which has been showing even worse recruitment in recent years. For this reason, the Commission is proposing a reduction in the TAC for the Western Baltic of 20%, from 49 500 tonnes to 39 600 tonnes.

The Commission hopes that political agreement will be reached during this Council.

EU-Norway: annual consultations for 2008 - exchange of views

The EU and Norway have had a bilateral Fisheries Agreement since 1980, covering joint stocks in the North Sea. Some of these stocks are jointly managed (cod, haddock, herring, plaice, saithe, whiting and mackerel), while others such as anglerfish, horse mackerel, Norway pout and sandeel are not. Annual TACs are set jointly by the EU and Norway for the jointly managed stocks. The reciprocal exchange of quotas needs to be in overall balance across the Agreement. Council will hold an exchange of views on the line to be taken by the Commission in the negotiations with Norway.

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Bluefin tuna

At the request of Spain, Council will discuss the management of the EU fishery for Eastern bluefin tuna during the 2007 season. Following adoption of a new multi-annual management plan by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) last November, the EU was allocated a TAC of 16,820 tonnes for 2007. This TAC was accompanied by new rules on minimum sizes and closed seasons, and by a new control system, which is intended to guarantee the traceability of all fish taken in the fishery, from net to plate.

On 19 September, the Commission closed the EU bluefin tuna fishery for the year, having deemed the quota to be exhausted, and on 26 September the Commission opened infringement procedures against all seven Member States involved in the fishery for failure to comply with their reporting obligations. In the case of France and Italy, the infringement procedure also concerns shortcomings in their control of this fishery. The Commission believes that the control and reporting problems should be resolved by the permanent transposition of the ICCAT recovery plan into EU law, as has already been proposed to Council, and its faithful implementation. The Commission will also be proposing that any Member State which was not able to fish its quota due to the early closure of the 2007 fishery should be compensated in future by receiving additional fishing possibilities.