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EU farm ministers agree to reform agriculture policy
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European Union (EU) farm ministers agreed on Thursday to reform the 27-nation bloc's common agriculture policy by shifting more farm subsidies to rural development and liberalizing the dairy market.
"Everyone had to deliver sacrifices ... But every member state can go back and say they achieved something in the negotiations," EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel told a news conference early Thursday after all-night negotiations.
"I am very happy we made it without changing the basic instruments of the original proposal," she added.
The European Commission proposed in May a "health check" of the EU's common agriculture policy, triggering the biggest overhaul of EU farm policy since reforms in 2003, which started to "decouple" subsidies from production.
While 90 percent of EU farm subsidies are currently decoupled from production, the commission wanted to remove the remaining coupled payments, with only a few exceptions, allowing farmers to follow market signals to the greatest possible extent.
Meanwhile, aid to farmers will be linked to the respect of environmental, animal welfare and food quality standards. Farmers who do not respect the rules face cuts in their support, which costs more than 40 billion euros (about 50.17 billion U.S. dollars)a year and accounts for 40 percent of the EU's budget.
Though EU farm ministers agreed on further decoupling, exceptions remained for suckler cow, goat and sheep premia, where member states may maintain current levels of coupled support.
Under the plan, direct handouts to farmers will be reduced, especially to bigger farm holdings and the money will be diverted to projects promoting rural development, food quality and environmental protection.
Currently, all EU farmers receiving more than 5,000 euros in direct aid have their payments reduced by 5 percent and the money is transferred into the rural development budget. The rate will be increased to 10 percent by 2012, and an additional cut of 4 percent will be made on payments above 300,000 euros a year.
The funding obtained this way may be used by member states to reinforce programs in the fields of climate change, renewable energy, water management, biodiversity, innovation linked to the previous four points and for accompanying measures in the dairy sector.
Boel had sought larger subsidy cuts, but she was forced to accept a compromised deal by France, Germany and some newer EU countries that have many large farm holdings.
The EU's costly farm subsidies have long been attacked by developing countries as detriment to the world trade of agriculture products and a key issue hindering the Doha Round of global free trade talks.
The requirement for farmers to leave 10 percent of their land fallow is abolished. This will allow farmers to maximize their production potential.
Phasing out milk quotas proved to be the thorniest issue in the talks. EU farm ministers agreed that as milk quotas will expire by April 2015 a "soft landing" is ensured by increasing quotas by 1 percent every year.
Italy was given a special treatment to introduce the 5 percent increase altogether from next year.
"I'm pleased we managed to find a compromise which preserves all the principles of our original proposal," said Boel. "The health check is all about equipping our farmers for the challenges they face in the upcoming years, such as climate change, and freeing them to follow market signals." (1 U.S. dollar = 0.7973 euro)
Xinhua
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