Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 6 • Number 34 • 9th October 2002
Split On EU’S AG Policy Reinforced By British Minister’s Comments
At a 30 September conference of the UK’s Labour party, UK trade secretary Patricia Hewitt heavily criticised some EU Member states for being "two-faced" as they were "demanding market opening from the poor" but at the same time "practising protectionism to defend their own special interests." Hewitt further said that Britain should take the lead in the campaign for a more equitable global trading system and for reforming the "unjust" subsidy regime under the Union’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). Justin Forsyth, head of policy at development organisation Oxfam welcomed Hewitt’s pledge as "a significant and welcome ratcheting up of the government’s opposition to the CAP." Reportedly, Hewitt will now demand reform from the French government, which is a major beneficiary of the CAP and which so far has been a strong defender of the Policy’s subsidy system. According to the French government, the CAP should remain unchanged until the expiration of the 2000-2006 ‘Agenda 2000′. This despite concerns voiced by several fellow EU Members that the enlargement of the EU to encompass possibly ten additional Eastern European countries — expected to take place well before 2006 — could lead to a collapse of the Union’s agricultural budget.
Germany, together with the UK, the Netherlands and Denmark, another European demandeur for quick CAP reform, is brokering a compromise deal with France, under which Paris would support the establishment of guidelines for reform by 2004, but which would not start real reforms before 2006. Related to this issue, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said in Paris at a 3 October conference on the future of the CAP that "to wait much longer [with the reform] would run the risk of entrenching the positions of the pro-CAP and anti-CAP camps". Supporting Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler’s latest reform proposal, Lamy further added that he "would advise strongly against a policy of sticking one’s head in the sand," Lamy stated. Under Fischler’s plan, farmers would still get support from Brussels, but aid would be more de-coupled from production and linked to compliance with environmental, safety and animal welfare standards (see BRIDGES Weekly, 17 July 2002).
"Berlin and Paris close to farm reform deal," FINANCIAL TIMES, 4 October 2002; "Minister attacks ‘two-faced’ EU subsidies," THE GUARDIAN, 1 October 2002; "EU’s Lamy warns against farm reform delay," REUTERS, 3 October 2002.