By Daisy Ayliffe - 21st February 2006
EU agriculture ministers formally adopted radical reform of the European sugar sector on Monday.
Change will come into force in July, transforming an area that has been left untouched for almost 40 years.
EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel expressed delight that member states had backed the move but acknowledged the decision to reform not been taken lightly.
“The measures may appear tough, but there is no alternative,” she said. “Thanks to these reforms, the EU sugar sector can look to the future with confidence.”
Under the new rules the guaranteed price for white sugar will be cut by 36 per cent over four years.
Partial compensation will be offered to farmers for the price reductions and a fund will be set up to encourage the closure of the least efficient sugar factories.
National disagreements
Monday’s formal adoption of the legislation follows discordant ministerial negotiations in November.
Last year, EU agriculture ministers finally agreed to the 36 per cent compromise deal - instead of an initial plan for 39 per cent cuts.
But on Monday discord remained and Brussels was forced to beat down stiff opposition from Warsaw.
Poland is the EU’s third-largest beet sugar producer after Germany and France and voted against the reform deal alongside Greece and Latvia.
“We were against this from the start on an economic level,” a spokesman for the Polish representation to the EU told this website.
“The Polish government was sure the moves would harm our producers. We wanted to guarantee more compensation to producers especially for farmers – not just sugar factories.”
But the weighted voting system meant dissident voices were not loud enough to block the sugar deal.
WTO influence
The cuts are designed to cut EU dumping of sugar on the world market after the practice was successfully challenged by Australia, Brazil and Thailand at the WTO.
The global trade association forced Brussels to reform its sugar policy after declaring it illegal.
But the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries insist the deal is not all sweetness and light.
ACP states had benefited from a preferential sugar protocol and say the plans could devastate producers.
Oxfam says the deal leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
“Developing countries have been sacrificed in order for Europe to reach a deal,” the NGO said in a press release.
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