EU-lidstaten bekritiseren plan Brussel voor hervorming steun boerderijen (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Several EU countries have criticised the European Commission's i suggestion to introduce limits on farm subsidies, with Brussels hinting it would reconsider the plan if it only results in the splitting up of the biggest farms.

EU agriculture ministers held their first debate on Monday (26 October) on the so-called "health check" of the bloc's common agriculture policy (CAP) put forward by commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel i last week.

Jaime Silva, the agriculture minister of Portugal, the current EU presidency country, told journalists that the discussion gave "a clear signal to the commission to go on and to go deeper on its reflection."

"Ministers unanimously didn't refuse it," he added, while insiders reported that some ideas were even openly welcomed, such as a further boost to rural development or a push for flatter rates in subsidies across the EU, replacing calculations based on past production.

A significant part of the debate however, touched upon the most controversial idea of putting a lid on the subsidies to farmers receiving more than €100,000 per year and shifting the money into rural development of the relevant member states.

Ministers from Germany, the UK, the Czech Republic and Slovakia argued that the proposal would harm the most effective performers and possibly force them to break up their farms in order to avoid EU aid cuts.

"East German farms should not have to bear the burden of farm policy reform," said German farm minister Horst Seehofer, according to AFP news agency.

Commissioner Fischer Boel herself admitted she is aware of the historic situation in some post-communist countries with large agriculture holdings as remnants from collective farming.

"If the only result of a reduction of the direct payment for the big farms is that we generate quite a lot of income for the local lawyers I will reconsider," she told journalists, adding "I'm sure that we will find a solution."

But she indicated she was quite satisfied with the first round of reactions. "I think it is the most positive response that we have ever seen to changes at the level of what we have proposed."

"And I think that we have managed to hit the right balance because some member states said that we were too much un-ambitious and others said we were too much liberal," she added.

The health check plan also includes a suggestion for limiting the safety-net public storage system for cereals, apart from wheat, which is a system dating back to 1950s when post-war western Europe tried hard to secure food supplies.

While countries like the UK and Denmark favoured its full abolition, other states - such as France and Austria argued it only needs to be adapted.

The commission's farm blueprint could see final approval in late 2008 under the French presidency, with Paris still featuring as the biggest beneficiary of EU farm hand-outs and with president Nicolas Sarkozy promising French goodwill towards CAP reform.