Raad Landbouw en Visserij komt bijeen (en)

The Agriculture & Fisheries Council will meet in Brussels on Monday 12 July (starting at 10 a.m.), under the Presidency of Mrs Sabine Laruelle, Belgian minister for SMEs, the Self-Employment, Agriculture and Science Policy. Commissioner Dacian Ciolos will represent the Commission at the meeting. No Fisheries or Health issues are on the agenda.

The points on the agenda are:

Working programme of the Presidency

The Belgian Presidency will outline the main priorities in the field of agriculture, food safety and fisheries for the second semester of 2010.

Agriculture

Report on the High Level Group on Milk

The Commission will present the report and recommendations of the High Level Group on Milk. Ministers will have an exchange of views on the report

Following the difficult market situation for milk last year, the Commission established a High Level Expert Group on Milk (HLG) last October with the purpose of discussing mid-term and long-term arrangements for the dairy sector given the expiry of dairy quotas on 1 April 2015 (see IP/09/1420). While respecting the outcome of the Health Check, the HLG was asked to consider regulatory issues which might contribute to stabilizing the market and producers' income and enhance transparency on the market. 10 meetings were held from October 2009 until June 2010. A draft report summarising the outcome of the discussions and with certain recommendations was adopted unanimously on 15 June (see IP/10/742)

The recommendations to the Commission from the High Level Group relate to:

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  Contractual relations between milk producers and milk processors,

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  Collective bargaining power of producers,

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  The possible role of interbranch organisations in the dairy sector,

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  Transparency in the dairy supply chain,

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  Market measures and futures,

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  Marketing standards and origin labelling,

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  Innovation and research

The full 50-page report (with annexes) is available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/markets/milk/index_en.htm

German Alcohol Monopoly

On 26 June, the Commission adopted a report and draft Regulation on the German Alcohol Monopoly (see COM(2010) 336 and COM(2010 337).

Germany has a derogation from State aid rules for many years, allowing it to support the production of alcohol of agricultural origin in certain distilleries. According to the Single CMO (Common Market Organisation), the existing derogation has to end on 31 December 2010.

The draft regulation proposes the derogation from State aid rules for the German Alcohol Monopoly (Branntweinmonopol) for supporting farm distilleries producing alcohol of agricultural origin (e.g. from cereals & potatoes) to be extended beyond the end of this year, but phased out by the end of 2013. However, there will be a longer phasing out period, until the end of 2017, for small-scale distilleries (Abfindungsbrennereien), distillery users (Stoffbesitzer) and fruit cooperative distilleries (Obstgemeinschaftsbrennereien) which are locally-oriented and produce very small quantities of alcohol mainly from fruits (up to 300 litres per year). Various degressive limits should apply in the meantime to ensure that the process is gradual. The proposal will allow the derogation to apply retro-actively in case the extension is not approved under the co-decision procedure before the end of the year when the current derogation expires.

The Commission will present the report and the draft proposal to the Council, followed by an exchange of views. The proposal has to be adopted by co-decision.

AOB

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  Advances on direct payments for 2010 (Lithuanian demand)