Common organisation of the markets in agricultural products 2014-2020. Single CMO Regulation

2011/0281(COD)

The Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development adopted the report by Michel DANTIN (EPP, FR) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation).

The committee recommended that the Parliament’s position adopted at first reading, following the ordinary legislative procedure, should amend the Commission proposal. The main amendments were as follows:

Scope: this Regulation should apply to all agricultural products listed in Annex I to the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in order to ensure the existence of a common organisation of the market for all such products.

Public intervention and aid for private storage: durum wheat shall be added to the list of products eligible for public intervention. It is stipulated that where public intervention is open, measures on fixing buying-in prices for common wheat, butter, skimmed milk powder, durum wheat, barley, maize, paddy rice, beef and veal as well as, where applicable, measures on quantitative limitations where buying-in is carried out at a fixed price shall be taken by the Council in accordance with Article 43(3) of the Treaty.

Aid for private storage may be granted for fresh or chilled meat of bovine animals aged 8 months or more as well as for cheese.

The Commission may adopt delegated acts:

  • in order to ensure that products bought in under public intervention or subject to aid for private storage are suitable for long-term storage and of fair, sound and marketable quality;
  • in order to ensure appropriate storage capacity and the efficiency of the public intervention system in terms of cost effectiveness, distribution and access for operators.

Aid schemes intended to improve access to food: according to the amended Regulation, aid schemes intended to improve the distribution of agricultural products and improving children’s eating habits are aimed at children who regularly attend nurseries, pre-schools or, primary or secondary-level educational establishments which are administered or recognised by the competent authorities of Member States.

School fruit schemes: accompanying measures may include information on measures for education about healthy eating habits, about local food chains and about combating food wastage, that are necessary to make the scheme effective.

Measures on fixing the Union aid shall be taken by the Council in accordance with Article 43(3) of the Treaty.

The Union aid shall be allocated to each Member State on the basis of objective criteria based on their proportion of six- to ten-year old children. Member States participating in the scheme shall apply every year for Union aid on the basis of their strategy.

School milk programmes: as of 1 August 2015 Member States, at national or regional level, wishing to participate in the scheme shall draw up a prior strategy for its implementation. Member States shall draw up a list of milk and milk products that will be eligible under their respective schemes.

Except for free distribution of meals to children in educational establishments, Union aid shall not be used to replace funding for any existing national milk and milk products schemes or other school distribution schemes that include milk or milk products.

Food distribution to the most deprived: the existing scheme should be the subject of a separate regulation. Provision should nevertheless be made in this Regulation to allow for disposal of products held in public intervention by making them available for use in the scheme.

Union scales for the classification of carcasses: Union scales for the classification of carcasses shall apply in accordance with Annex IIIa in the beef and veal sector as regards carcasses of bovine animals aged 8 months or more and in the pigmeat sector as regards pigs other than those that have been used for breeding.

Olive oil: the Union shall finance three-year work programmes to be drawn up by producer organisations, associations of producer organisations or the interbranch organisations in one or more of the following areas: (i) market follow-up and management in the olive oil and table olives sector; (ii) the improvement of the competitiveness of olive cultivation through modernisation; (iii) the dissemination of information on measures carried out by producer organisations, associations of producer organisations or interbranch organisations to improve the quality of olive oil and table olives.

Fruit and vegetables: operational programmes in the fruit and vegetables sector shall have a minimum duration of three years and a maximum duration of five years. The objectives are as follows: planning of production, including production and consumption forecasting and follow-up; improvement of product quality, whether in a fresh or processed form.

Products of the fruit and vegetables sector which are intended to be sold fresh to the consumer may only be marketed if they are sound, fair and of marketable quality and if the country of origin is indicated.

Wine sector: in order to ensure an orderly growth of vine plantings during the period between 2016 and 2030, a new system for the management of vine plantings should be established at Union level; a scheme of authorisations for vine plantings.

Under this new system, authorisations may be granted without a cost to be charged to the producers, and should expire after three years if they are not used.

The growth of new vine plantings should be framed by a safeguard mechanism at Union level based on the obligation for Member States to make available annually authorisations for new plantings representing 1 % of the planted vine areas, while allowing for certain flexibility in order to respond to specific circumstances of each Member State.

Member States should be able to decide on making available smaller areas at national or regional levels, including for areas eligible for specific protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI).

Transitional provisions should be laid down in order to ensure a smooth transition between the former planting rights regime and the new scheme, in particular in order to avoid excessive plantings before the start of the new scheme. Member States should have a certain flexibility to decide on the deadline for the presentation of requests for conversion of planting rights into authorisations between 31 December 2015 up to 31 December 2020.

Milk sector: in order to ensure the viable development of production and thus a fair standard of living for dairy farmers, their bargaining power vis-à-vis processors should be strengthened which should result in a fairer distribution of value-added along the supply chain. Therefore, in order to attain these CAP objectives, a provision should be adopted to allow producer organisations constituted by dairy farmers or their associations to negotiate jointly contract terms, including price, for some or all of its members' raw milk production with a dairy.

In view of the importance of PDO and PGI and in order to maintain the quality of cheeses, Member States should be allowed to apply rules to regulate the entire supply of such cheese produced in the defined geographical area at the request of an interbranch organisation, a producer organisation.

Hops: in order to allow the hop producer organisations to continue their activities as before, a specific provision should be made for equivalent amounts to be used in the Member State concerned for the same activities. The power to adopt certain acts should be delegated to the Commission in respect of aid applications, rules on eligible hop areas and the calculation of aids. A quality policy should be followed throughout the Union by applying a certification procedure for products of the hops sector and by prohibiting the marketing of such products for which a certificate has not been issued.

Apiculture sector: the amended text stipulated the measures that may be included in the beekeeping programme. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in order to ensure that the Union aid scheme is adapted to the latest developments and that the measures covered are effective in reaching an improvement in the general conditions for the production and marketing of apiculture products.