News Release
Franz Fischler
No. 27/04
February 20, 2004
FISCHLER
SAYS EUROPE WILL PLOUGH ON WITH ITS FARM REFORMS
Speaking
to the press in Washington, DC, today,
Franz Fischler, EU Commissioner for
Agriculture,
Rural Development and
Fisheries touched upon the stalled
WTO talks, the necessary farm policy
reforms in rich countries and
biotech. He announced that he would bring to the table concrete proposals how to reform
the EU’s support system for
sugar. “The EU farm policy has completely changed, especially as a
result of the June 2003 reform. At the moment, our common
agricultural policy represents less than 1% of total EU public
expenditure, a figure that has been steadily declining in recent years. We
will continue our reforms. Before summer, I will [bring to the] table [a] proposal
[on] how to
make the EU’s sugar regime more market oriented and trade friendly, and I
expect the EU to take a similar decision on EU support for
cotton,
tobacco and
olive oil in March. But thanks to the joint
EU/US framework paper on WTO and agriculture from last summer, I am confident that the US
will
follow the European example and reform its farm bill to make it less trade
distorting and more market oriented,” Fischler stressed.
WTO
The
Commissioner underlined that the failure of
Cancún was a missed
opportunity which left no winners but only losers, especially the
developing countries. Developing countries have to get a better deal. In
recent months and weeks, the EU has repeatedly moved from its initial
position. We have shown a lot of flexibility. “We have reformed our farm
policy. Trade distorting farm support in Europe has come down by a
whopping 70% in the last decade! Reforms in the right direction have to be
recognised, not penalised. If the different impact of different farm
policies on world markets, prices and developing countries is ignored, why
bother to reform?” he asked.
Mr.
Fischler welcomed the recent initiative of US Trade Representative Bob Zoellick to re-launch the WTO talks by reaching
out to the developing
countries. “He could have been slightly more outspoken about also tackling
forms of export subsidies the US uses. The US spent US$ 3.2 billion in
2003 for export credits to give their exporters an unfair edge on the
world market, billions are spent on export promotion under the guise of
“food aid.” And even free traders like Canada, Australia or New Zealand
distort trade by maintaining state trading monopolies. All these export
promotion tools harm developing countries, so they have to go, as well,
not only European export refunds!” the Commissioner said.
Biotech
The
biotech issue has been a bone of
contention between the EU and the US.
Commissioner Fischler explained that European consumers want to know what
they eat and they are concerned about whether genetically modified food is
safe. “The European Commission doesn’t say GM [genetically modified] is evil. We don’t say
it’s unsafe either—the reason
why millions
of tonnes of scientifically approved GM maize and soya are already being
used in the EU. But we believe in giving our consumers a real choice, the
reason that labelling GM’s as such is so important. Trying to sneak GMOs
[genetically modified organisms]
in through the backdoor, or forcing them down consumers’ throats will
backfire. It won’t foster trust, but distrust among our folks. We are
serious about delivering on our international promises. The Commission has
just adopted a proposal to
authorize imports of so-called BT-11 maize. I
am confident that our member states will give their green light soon. And
there are more authorisations to come,” he concluded.
Commissioner Fischler's
speech "Restarting
the Doha Round"; on a
Healthy Food Supply.
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Press Contacts:
|
Anthony Gooch
202-862-9523
|
Maeve O'Beirne
202-862-9549
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