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COPA-COGECA WELCOMES DECISIONS FROM CANCUN THOUGH URGES MORE PROGRESS TO BE MADE IN 2011
Copa-Cogeca welcomed today results from the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun which came up with a balanced set of decisions, but more progress could have been made.
Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen stressed “Copa-Cogeca welcomes the fact that negotiators in Cancun restored faith in the multilateral process and came up with a balanced package of decisions, in order to make progress towards a new climate treaty. But there is still much work to be done before the next Conference, the COP 17, in South Africa”.
However, Copa-Cogeca regrets that the text agreed in Cancun does not note the important role of food production systems in mitigating and adapting to climate change. We believe that greenhouse gas emissions can be cut at the same time as raising productivity in the EU agriculture and forestry sectors. This is crucial given that FAO predicts that world food production needs to be more than doubled by 2050 to meet growing demand.
He continued: “We consequently wait with anticipation for work to continue in 2011. In particular, this should focus on enhancing the relationship between agriculture and food security and the link between adaptation and mitigation. There also needs to be a clear mandate for the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) to establish a work programme on agriculture. Furthermore, definitions, modalities, rules and guidelines relating to LULUCF (Land use, Land use change and Forestry) for application in the second commitment period need to be worked on”.
For more information, please contact:
Antonia Andugar Amanda Cheesley
Senior Policy Advisor Press Officer
Copa¬-Cogeca Copa-Cogeca
WWW.copa-cogeca.eu
COPA-COGECA REACTS TO EU COMMISSION PROPOSALS ON FUTURE EU QUALITY POLICY
10.12.10
PRESS RELEASE
COPA-COGECA REACTS TO EU COMMISSION PROPOSALS ON FUTURE EU QUALITY POLICY
Copa-Cogeca welcomes moves to modernize rules and reduce the administrative burden for producers under EU Commission plans on future EU quality policy, but is worried that some measures in the plans could threaten the credibility of the whole system.
Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen said “I welcome the fact that provisions on wine, spirits and aromatised wines will be kept separate from EU legislation on geographical Indications (PGIs) thus maintaining each sectors specificities and avoiding wine provisions from being scattered across various pieces of legislation. This is in line with our views. Big efforts have also been made by the Commission to reduce the administrative burden for registering products under EU legislation on PGIs, such as shortening the registration procedure. The level of protection of the system has also been enhanced. Furthermore, the role and responsibilities of producer groups in managing PGIs has been recognised for the first time. This is a step forward.”
He also welcomed the EC initiative to develop EU best- practices guidelines for voluntary certification schemes as well as EU guidelines on the labelling of foodstuffs using PDOs are PGIs as ingredients. “These two instruments are to be adapted and updated on a regular basis. Copa-Cogeca would like to to be associated with these future developments”, he added.
He continued “The Commission proposals also suggest modernising and further rationalising marketing standards. Whilst “general marketing standards” are introduced, the Commission would now have the legal basis to adopt detailed marketing and quality
requirements for new sectors through delegated acts. It is good that they can develop new provisions on marketing standards for some sectors as marketing standards can help to ensure fair competition and trading, market transparency and consumer information. Along these lines, we believe that the European Commission could also develop specific marketing standards in other sector which are not so far covered by this proposal, such as for honey products ”.
But the Chairman of Copa-Cogeca s’ Working Party on Quality Olivier de Carne was disappointed that the Commission has excluded “mountain farming” from the scope of the text. We trust that the Commission will present again this point as early as possible. The fact that “direct sales” were also excluded came to us as a surprise. In order to clarify this new concept, it is important for us that we can have a wide and constructive debate on this question in the near future”.
“Copa- Cogeca is concerned about the Commission’s reinforced legislative powers where it can modify, derogate or create exemptions to the marketing standards”, he warned. “We also fail to understand the reasons why the European Commission modified the definitions and conditions which products covered by EU legislation on protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGIs) have to meet. We want guarantees that these amendments will not call into question the whole system which has so far worked well. It is indeed vital for us not to relax the existing definitions, which guarantee that a product comes from a specific area and protects the EU’s high quality produce, thereby helping to maintain employment in EU rural areas”.
Amanda Cheesley
Press Officer
Copa-Cogeca
CAP public consultation
Some of this is seen to be incorporated in the leaked document
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap-post-2013/debate/report/executive-summary_en.pdf
Summing up the conference held around the public consultation
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap-post-2013/conference/pdf/matthews-closing-report_en.pdf