Voorbereiding raad landbouw en visserij februari 2010 (en)

The Agriculture & Fisheries Council will meet in Brussels on Monday 22 February (starting at 11 a.m.), under the Presidency of Mrs Elena Espinosa, Spanish minister for Agriculture. Commissioners John Dalli and Dacian Ciolo s will represent the Commission at the meeting.

In the morning the Council will deal with the Food Safety and Animal Health points and in the afternoon the Agriculture points are on the agenda. Over lunch, Ministers will have a discussion on the theme: "Preparation of the meeting of Ministers for Agriculture of the OECD"

The points on the agenda are:

Food safety and animal health

Report on animal welfare labelling

On 28 October 2009, the Commission adopted a report (see IP/09/1610 ) in which it outlined a series of options for animal welfare labelling, to facilitate an in-depth political debate with the other institutions. The overall goal of policy in this area is to make it easier for consumers to identify and choose welfare-friendly products, and thereby give an economic incentive to producers to improve the welfare of animals. The report also presented options for the possible establishment of a European Network of Reference Centres for the protection and welfare of animals. Such a network, modelled on the existing Community Reference Laboratories for animal health, could provide technical support for the development and implementation of animal welfare policies, including regarding certification and labelling. Although the report did not endorse any of the options outlined, it identified those which are considered to be the most feasible today. Harmonised requirements for voluntary animal welfare claims, for example, constitute one such option to support transparent information to consumers. Another is a voluntary Community Animal Welfare Label open for all to use, provided they meet the criteria.

The report and more information is available on the internet at:

http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/welfare/farm/labelling_en.htm

Following a first presentation at the December 2009 Council, the Ministers will have an exchange of views on this issue based on three questions submitted by the Spanish Presidency.

AOB

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  Proposal to extend the deadline for using un-enriched cages (Polish request)

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  Age limit for animals submitted to BSE testing (Request from Belgium)

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  Update on Q-fever (Information from the Netherlands)

Agriculture

"Future of the CAP: market management measures post 2013"

Based on a paper and a questionnaire from the Spanish Presidency, Ministers will have an exchange of views on the future of the CAP market management measures.

The four questions Ministers are expected to answer are:

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  Do you consider that the market orientation of European agriculture is sufficient?

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  Do you consider that current market management instruments provide a sufficient safety net in the event of a scenario of growing volatility? How could the situation be improved?

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  Do you consider it appropriate to examine complementary instruments in addition to those provided for in the single CMO? Which? How?

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  Do you think that the future CAP should have a financial mechanism to deal with situations of serious crisis which offers flexibility in responding rapidly to such cases?

State aid in Italy for the purchase of agricultural land

The Council received from Italy a formal request to approve the granting of State aid to farmers for the purchase of agricultural land.

The State aid to be granted amounts to approximately € 100 million and should enable the purchase of a total of 34 000 hectares of agricultural land during the period from 2010 to 2013, at about 28 hectares of agricultural land per purchaser. The estimated number of beneficiaries is 1 200.

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

AOB

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  Present crisis and difficulties of the agricultural sector in Greece (Request from Greek delegation)

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  Import tariff quota for raw sugar at zero duty (Portuguese demand, supported by Finnish and Romanian delegations)

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  Situation in the cereals sector (French request)