Sugar: common organisation of the markets CMO

The Council held a policy debate on a communication and two proposals for Regulations submitted by the Commission in order to make the restructuring of the Community sugar industry more attractive.

The debate concentrated on the principal measures proposed to increase the effectiveness of the 2005 reform:

• make the restructuring fund in the 3rd year of restructuring more attractive, while retaining the principle of voluntary restructuring;
• enable growers to give up quotas on their own initiative, in order to strengthen the necessary restructuring process;
• adopt a two-phased approach for restructuring applications in 2008/2009;
• if a final quota cut is necessary in 2010, take into account restructuring efforts already undertaken at individual undertaking level and at Member State level.

The Commission proposal received the general support of a large number of delegations, subject to certain technical adjustments which the Presidency asked the Special Committee on Agriculture to take care of so that agreement could be reached on this package in September 2007.