AGRICULTURE COUNCIL : CIOLOS HITS BACK AT SUGAR QUOTA DISSENTERS.

Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos has hit back at member states that want a five-year extension of sugar quotas, until 2020, to allow their industries to adapt, saying the move would overturn a Council commitment made in 2006, "totally undermining the EU's credibility". The future of rules governing sugar production in the EU remains a thorny issue in talks on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as member states clashed once again over the end date for sugar quotas at the Agriculture Council, on 28 November. At least 14 countries, led by agricultural heavyweights France and Germany, want the Commission to push back its proposed September 2015 deadline until 2020, saying that domestic beet producers and processors needed more time to adjust to volatile markets.

But the calls for an extension of the current regime were sharply rebuked by Ciolos during the web-streamed debate. He said the move flew in the face of taxpayers after public funds had been used to close down processors to make the sector more competitive in time for the phase-out date. Ciolos was also quick to point to the Commission's efforts to give producers more control over production: "the quantities of sugar on the market should not be decided by officials working in Brussels".

But the majority of the agriculture ministers said domestic beet producers required more time and guaranteed market stability to complete their adjustments. "We do not want to endanger this process," German Minister Ilse Aigner said. Greece and Finland stressed the importance of maintaining jobs in rural areas. Ending quotas would...

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