European shoppers were promised a new set of European Union (EU) wide rights with the European Commission's adoption on Wednesday (Oct 8) of the proposal for a directive on contractual rights for consumers.
The Commission proposals will empower European shoppers with a single, simple EU-wide set of rights. This will allow consumers to seek best value for their money anywhere in the EU without falling victim to diverging national rules and archaic European measures. The proposals confer rights to information before purchase, EU-wide protection against late delivery and non-delivery and a new 14-day cooling off period for distance and pressure sales. Consumers could also rely on EU-wide rules for returns, repairs, refunds and guarantees.
Meglena Kuneva, European Commissioner for consumer protection told journalists, “It is the most far reaching overhaul of consumer rights in 30 years,” adding, “At the same time, it will significantly reduce the burden on Europe's hard pressed business community.”
According to the Commission’s October Eurobarometer, the number of traders selling cross-border has declined from 29 percent to 21 percent since 2006 and although consumer confidence in cross-border shopping in another EU-country has improved, there is still a great potential for further internal market integration.
BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS
The proposals were welcomed by business organisations across Europe with EuroCommerce Secretary General, Xavier R. Durieu saying, “By tackling the legal divergences which stemmed from the old 'minimum-requirements' approach, both consumers and businesses will benefit from a clearer and therefore more predictable legal framework for EU consumer protection rules.”
Ernest-Antoine Seillière, President of BUSINESSEUROPE warned the European parliament saying, “it is essential that EU legislators avoid its dilution during the legislative process. In particular, we hope that the principle of mutual recognition will be fully integrated in the future debate on the proposal.”
EUROPEAN LAWMAKERS
The proposals will have to pass through the European parliament scrutiny before being adopted by the Member States. There was immediate welcome from the European parliament as European Liberal Democrat Leader Graham Watson said, “This is the start of a consumer protection revolution which will transform Europe's fragmented retail market into the level playing field it ought to be,” adding, “Thanks to modern technology better priced products are only a few clicks away but even in this virtual market real life barriers exist. It is time we give consumers better protection wherever they choose to take their custom.”
Toine Manders (VVD, the Netherlands), ALDE Coordinator on the IMCO Committee said in a statement: "A single market requires clear and common rules for consumers and businesses. The current patchwork of consumer legislation is a barrier for creating a real business to consumer internal market."
Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (FDP, Germany), Vice-Chairman of the IMCO Committee added: "This directive is an important step towards improving the trust of consumers in thesingle market. Markets cannot function properly without the trust of consumers. Because of this, consumers have not yet been able to fully benefit from the Single Market. I hope that this directive will enable consumers to be better informed, buy at better prices and have more choice."
PROPOSALS
Presenting the proposals, Commissioner Kuneva listed 12 priority areas as thus:
Tough rules on delivery within 30 days everywhere in the EU with insurance against damages, late delivery or non-delivery plus a money back in seven days,
No hidden charges with transparency rules made simple,
EU wide 14-day "cooling off" period and right of withdrawal for consumers,
New ban on default pre-ticked boxes – for example, for travel insurance, priority boarding and baggage,
A new "see through clause" to tackle the problem of omissions and National courts to be able to decide on the sanction depending on the scale of the omission– from refunds, to replacement or declaring a contract void,
No to pressure selling,
Distance clause covers all distances - closing all existing loopholes,
New transparent obligations like credit card blocking and the consumer must be told if you are dealing with an intermediary - as consumer rights will not apply,
EU consumer rights will be applied to mobile-commerce and tele-commerce,
A new EU Black list and Grey list of unfair and abusive contract terms,
EU-wide protection for online auctions,
At the point of sale, the consumer must be given all information about their rights.
Commissioner Kuneva concluded, “My job is to be consumer watchdog and i take it very seriously,” adding, “issues have been studied in detail for every country and for every item.”
Showing posts with label European Commissioner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label European Commissioner. Show all posts
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Europe’s future safe with cohesion policy
Hubner wants regional approach to local demands
Brussels, July 7 - There is hope stemming from the ongoing experience of a strong economic growth in the poorer European regions than the rest of the European Union as cohesion policy gets implemented, top EU official told a distinguished audience last week.
Addressing an EPC (European Policy Centre, a Brussels based think-tank) Breakfast Briefing on the EU Regional Policy Post-2013: More of the Same or a New Beginning?, European Commissioner for Regional Policy Danuta Hubner, said that the Commission’s “Fifth Progress Report on Economic and Social Cohesion” showed that structural change, and strong growth in knowledge- intensive, high-tech manufacturing sectors, had reduced the difference between the rich “old” EU Member States and the poorer “convergence” regions over the last five years.
“Per capita GDP growth was 50 percent faster in the convergence regions than in the rest of the EU, and unemployment there has dropped by three percent,” she added. “In order to shape future cohesion policy, we need to understand the reasons for the current social, economic and territorial inequalities,” argued the Commissioner, adding, “research suggests that EU integration and globalisation are producing different concentrations of winners and losers.”
Citing some scholars as saying that is the “price to pay” for high economic growth at the macro-economic level, Hubner sided with “more with scholars who argue that uneven regional growth stems from endogenous factors, such as the lack of natural resources, inadequate skills, poor accessibility, or poor capacity to innovate or to assimilate innovation.”
Recalling that she used to say that not even “a square kilometre,” should be wasted, the Commissioner said, “Realising how small Europe’s landmass is in global terms, we can not waste even a square centimetre.” “The aim of a modern cohesion policy is to provide ‘public goods’ aimed at improving skills, innovation capacity, entrepreneurship, sustainability, employment and accessibility, to enable all European territories to realise their full potential.
“The new policy for 2007- 2013 is designed to meet these challenges, and emphasises a place-based approach to growth and jobs, using local knowledge and responding to local demands.” “The new budget provides three times more funding for research and innovation than the previous allocation,” said the Commissioner.
“There are now 450 programmes that use socio-economic and territorial aspects to develop local and regional capacities: 30 percent are geared to environmental projects, 25 percent to innovation and 14 percent to human-capital related activities. All include a strong focus on developing a knowledge-based economy,” the Polish-born Commissioner said.
Saying, “Globalisation is not an abstract process, but has concrete impacts on European territories,” Hubner pointed out that it generated “pressures which have an asymmetrical impact on regions, especially those dominated by particular sectoral activities. “We need both continuity and change,” she said, so the new policies emphasise partnership and multi-level governance, since - ironically, in an increasingly globalised world - regional and local levels are best placed to take advantage of global processes,” she concluded.
Giving the example of a successful network of cities in Bavaria where there is ongoing work on science based activities, Hubner said, “Europe needs more ‘place-based’ responses that not only involve big cities with industrial activities and universities, but also small communities and businesses.” Reflecting on future cohesion policy, the Commissioner said that stakeholder responses to the Fourth Cohesion Report showed strong support for an ambitious and strong cohesion policy and gave an emphatic “No” to re-nationalising it. “Instead, stakeholders supported a coordinated policy for all EU regions, with a strong focus on the poorest areas, and a shift towards focusing on the Lisbon Strategy’s objectives of innovation, skills and education, sustainable development and developing Europe-wide structures.”
A Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion will also be adopted in early October 2008 which will launch the public consultation on solving interregional and intra-regional disparities, and an Orientation Paper will be published in Spring 2009 to synthesise the results of the debate.
Brussels, July 7 - There is hope stemming from the ongoing experience of a strong economic growth in the poorer European regions than the rest of the European Union as cohesion policy gets implemented, top EU official told a distinguished audience last week.
Addressing an EPC (European Policy Centre, a Brussels based think-tank) Breakfast Briefing on the EU Regional Policy Post-2013: More of the Same or a New Beginning?, European Commissioner for Regional Policy Danuta Hubner, said that the Commission’s “Fifth Progress Report on Economic and Social Cohesion” showed that structural change, and strong growth in knowledge- intensive, high-tech manufacturing sectors, had reduced the difference between the rich “old” EU Member States and the poorer “convergence” regions over the last five years.
“Per capita GDP growth was 50 percent faster in the convergence regions than in the rest of the EU, and unemployment there has dropped by three percent,” she added. “In order to shape future cohesion policy, we need to understand the reasons for the current social, economic and territorial inequalities,” argued the Commissioner, adding, “research suggests that EU integration and globalisation are producing different concentrations of winners and losers.”
Citing some scholars as saying that is the “price to pay” for high economic growth at the macro-economic level, Hubner sided with “more with scholars who argue that uneven regional growth stems from endogenous factors, such as the lack of natural resources, inadequate skills, poor accessibility, or poor capacity to innovate or to assimilate innovation.”
Recalling that she used to say that not even “a square kilometre,” should be wasted, the Commissioner said, “Realising how small Europe’s landmass is in global terms, we can not waste even a square centimetre.” “The aim of a modern cohesion policy is to provide ‘public goods’ aimed at improving skills, innovation capacity, entrepreneurship, sustainability, employment and accessibility, to enable all European territories to realise their full potential.
“The new policy for 2007- 2013 is designed to meet these challenges, and emphasises a place-based approach to growth and jobs, using local knowledge and responding to local demands.” “The new budget provides three times more funding for research and innovation than the previous allocation,” said the Commissioner.
“There are now 450 programmes that use socio-economic and territorial aspects to develop local and regional capacities: 30 percent are geared to environmental projects, 25 percent to innovation and 14 percent to human-capital related activities. All include a strong focus on developing a knowledge-based economy,” the Polish-born Commissioner said.
Saying, “Globalisation is not an abstract process, but has concrete impacts on European territories,” Hubner pointed out that it generated “pressures which have an asymmetrical impact on regions, especially those dominated by particular sectoral activities. “We need both continuity and change,” she said, so the new policies emphasise partnership and multi-level governance, since - ironically, in an increasingly globalised world - regional and local levels are best placed to take advantage of global processes,” she concluded.
Giving the example of a successful network of cities in Bavaria where there is ongoing work on science based activities, Hubner said, “Europe needs more ‘place-based’ responses that not only involve big cities with industrial activities and universities, but also small communities and businesses.” Reflecting on future cohesion policy, the Commissioner said that stakeholder responses to the Fourth Cohesion Report showed strong support for an ambitious and strong cohesion policy and gave an emphatic “No” to re-nationalising it. “Instead, stakeholders supported a coordinated policy for all EU regions, with a strong focus on the poorest areas, and a shift towards focusing on the Lisbon Strategy’s objectives of innovation, skills and education, sustainable development and developing Europe-wide structures.”
A Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion will also be adopted in early October 2008 which will launch the public consultation on solving interregional and intra-regional disparities, and an Orientation Paper will be published in Spring 2009 to synthesise the results of the debate.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
CAP will get its promised talks on reforms
Proposals for market-oriented farm reforms
Based on a leaked document from the European institutions, New Europe reported last week prior to the Agricultural Council meeting that there will be no concrete results about the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) of the EU in the near future.
Wedged between beneficiaries and opponents of the CAP, European Agricultural Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel took the golden path of “proposals” for discussions which aim to appease “for the CAP” member states while not completely blocking the demands of “against the CAP” nations.
European Union member states should allow their farmers to respond to market conditions and stop paying them to produce unwanted goods, the commissioner recommended last week.
“This is not the time to scrap the CAP, as some have proposed,” Boel said in a comment aimed at Britain’s Finance Minister Alistair Darling, who made that call in mid-May.
The so-called “CAP health check” is “all about freeing our farmers to meet growing demand and respond quickly to what the market is telling them,” Fischer Boel said. “It also aims to simplify, streamline and modernise the CAP and give our farmers the tools to handle the new challenges they face, such as climate change,” she said.
Check only for 2003
Launched as a follow-up to a major reform of the CAP in 2003, the “health check” focuses on streamlining existing policies, rather than bringing in new ones. For example, it recommends finally getting rid of the rule that farmers must leave 10 percent of their arable land untouched - a rule brought in during the 1980s to avoid the problem of over- production, and suspended in 2007. “We simply couldn’t defend a situation in which 10 percent of our arable land is out of production when there is a cry for food from all over the world,” Fischer Boel said. However, the Commission also hopes to preserve the environmental benefits of “set-aside” by linking farm payments to enforcement of environmental standards, she said.
Since the EU has also decided to scrap all milk quotas in 2015, it proposes raising the quotas every year until 2014 in an effort to provide a “soft landing” for milk farmers. It further proposes stopping practically all payments to farmers which are made in return for producing a specific foodstuff - a practice which was largely abolished in 2003.
And it proposes shifting an ever-increasing amount of money from farm support into rural development projects aimed at strengthening environmental and business projects in rural areas.
In order to sweeten the pill for both farmers and member states with large rural populations, it also proposes allowing member states more freedom in how they give aid to the most vulnerable farming sectors, and giving new members an extra three years - until 2013 - to use a simplified system for claiming EU funds.
The CAP has long been the EU’s most costly and controversial policy. In its heyday in the 1980s it took up some 60 percent of the EU’s budget, and even after the 2003 reforms it takes up more than a third, or some 43 billion Euro per year.
However, the proposals, which have to be approved by EU member states, are likely to face a heated debate. Older EU member states such as France and Germany are opposed to reforms which they see as leaving their farmers vulnerable to market forces, while new states such as Latvia say that the CAP should be reformed to transfer money from richer members to poorer ones.
Fischer Boel has agreed in principle with France, which is to chair EU meetings in the second half of the year, that member states should reach agreement on the proposals by November, she said.
Price rise measures
Earlier, meeting on soaring food prices across the continent, the bloc’s agriculture ministers reached no consensus on the key question of how to do it, with member states still far apart on how the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should be adapted to current events.
“We should adopt measures which could stabilize the market... If you had some stocks and if you have in mind that with stocks you could intervene in the market, perhaps the situation would be better,” said Slovenian Agriculture Minister Iztok Jarc, who chaired the meeting.
Other countries farmers
The European Union should consider paying money left over from its massive farming- support budget to small farmers in developing countries rather than returning it to member states, Fischer Boel said. “We will probably, within the agricultural section, not spend our total budget for 2008 ... so we will have funding available,” she explained.
“Some micro-loans to small producers in developing countries to help them to buy seeds and fertiliser could be not only a short-term, but also a long-term solution that could improve their capability to feed themselves and to start trading,” she said.
Such a measure would be a “very efficient way to help improve capacity in the agricultural sector in the developing countries,” she said. It could become possible because soaring food prices mean that EU farmers need less support from EU coffers than usual. However, she acknowledged that any such proposal would have to be approved by EU member states, since normally any money left over from the bloc’s massive farming budget - 43 billion Euro in 2009 - is paid back to member states.
Based on a leaked document from the European institutions, New Europe reported last week prior to the Agricultural Council meeting that there will be no concrete results about the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) of the EU in the near future.
Wedged between beneficiaries and opponents of the CAP, European Agricultural Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel took the golden path of “proposals” for discussions which aim to appease “for the CAP” member states while not completely blocking the demands of “against the CAP” nations.
European Union member states should allow their farmers to respond to market conditions and stop paying them to produce unwanted goods, the commissioner recommended last week.
“This is not the time to scrap the CAP, as some have proposed,” Boel said in a comment aimed at Britain’s Finance Minister Alistair Darling, who made that call in mid-May.
The so-called “CAP health check” is “all about freeing our farmers to meet growing demand and respond quickly to what the market is telling them,” Fischer Boel said. “It also aims to simplify, streamline and modernise the CAP and give our farmers the tools to handle the new challenges they face, such as climate change,” she said.
Check only for 2003
Launched as a follow-up to a major reform of the CAP in 2003, the “health check” focuses on streamlining existing policies, rather than bringing in new ones. For example, it recommends finally getting rid of the rule that farmers must leave 10 percent of their arable land untouched - a rule brought in during the 1980s to avoid the problem of over- production, and suspended in 2007. “We simply couldn’t defend a situation in which 10 percent of our arable land is out of production when there is a cry for food from all over the world,” Fischer Boel said. However, the Commission also hopes to preserve the environmental benefits of “set-aside” by linking farm payments to enforcement of environmental standards, she said.
Since the EU has also decided to scrap all milk quotas in 2015, it proposes raising the quotas every year until 2014 in an effort to provide a “soft landing” for milk farmers. It further proposes stopping practically all payments to farmers which are made in return for producing a specific foodstuff - a practice which was largely abolished in 2003.
And it proposes shifting an ever-increasing amount of money from farm support into rural development projects aimed at strengthening environmental and business projects in rural areas.
In order to sweeten the pill for both farmers and member states with large rural populations, it also proposes allowing member states more freedom in how they give aid to the most vulnerable farming sectors, and giving new members an extra three years - until 2013 - to use a simplified system for claiming EU funds.
The CAP has long been the EU’s most costly and controversial policy. In its heyday in the 1980s it took up some 60 percent of the EU’s budget, and even after the 2003 reforms it takes up more than a third, or some 43 billion Euro per year.
However, the proposals, which have to be approved by EU member states, are likely to face a heated debate. Older EU member states such as France and Germany are opposed to reforms which they see as leaving their farmers vulnerable to market forces, while new states such as Latvia say that the CAP should be reformed to transfer money from richer members to poorer ones.
Fischer Boel has agreed in principle with France, which is to chair EU meetings in the second half of the year, that member states should reach agreement on the proposals by November, she said.
Price rise measures
Earlier, meeting on soaring food prices across the continent, the bloc’s agriculture ministers reached no consensus on the key question of how to do it, with member states still far apart on how the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should be adapted to current events.
“We should adopt measures which could stabilize the market... If you had some stocks and if you have in mind that with stocks you could intervene in the market, perhaps the situation would be better,” said Slovenian Agriculture Minister Iztok Jarc, who chaired the meeting.
Other countries farmers
The European Union should consider paying money left over from its massive farming- support budget to small farmers in developing countries rather than returning it to member states, Fischer Boel said. “We will probably, within the agricultural section, not spend our total budget for 2008 ... so we will have funding available,” she explained.
“Some micro-loans to small producers in developing countries to help them to buy seeds and fertiliser could be not only a short-term, but also a long-term solution that could improve their capability to feed themselves and to start trading,” she said.
Such a measure would be a “very efficient way to help improve capacity in the agricultural sector in the developing countries,” she said. It could become possible because soaring food prices mean that EU farmers need less support from EU coffers than usual. However, she acknowledged that any such proposal would have to be approved by EU member states, since normally any money left over from the bloc’s massive farming budget - 43 billion Euro in 2009 - is paid back to member states.
Leaked documents suggest CAP reform just a whitewash
Big farms get taken care of, dairy farmers unhappy
European Union agriculture ministers meeting this week in Brussels are set to rubber stamp a middle path of not antagonising major beneficiaries like Germany and France while keeping the hopes of free market advocates like United Kingdom alive with cosmetic reform proposals to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The alarm for urgent need for CAP modification was sounded earlier last week when Joaquin Almunia, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs said prior to a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers: “For the weakest sector of our society, inflation is the main problem. They are suffering a loss of purchasing power, and must pay more for food and other necessary goods.”
Among the measures that governments can take to help their poorest citizens is an improvement to “the functioning of our common agricultural policy (CAP),” he told journalists, adding that the EU should also promote measures aimed at tackling “tension” on the international commodity markets.
The CAP, one of the most hotly-debated policies in the EU, is going to pay out nearly 43 billion Euro in 2009, which amounts to more than one-third of all payments going out of EU coffers. Although there was a CAP reform in 2003 to slash subsidies, but with food prices in the 15-member Eurozone now rising at an annual rate of six percent, market analysts predict dire straits ahead.
According to leaked documents ready for presentation at the “Health Check” of CAP on May 20, “First indications from the assessment of the 2003 reform are in general positive, and indicate that a fundamental reform of the CAP for the remaining horizon of the present financial perspectives (until 2013) is neither necessary nor desirable.”
Another two major areas of concern directly affecting farmers are “set-aside obligation” and “milk quotas.”
The document states: “Removal of the set-aside obligation would likely bring back into production an area corresponding to roughly half the area currently under mandatory set-aside. It has been suggested that the environmental benefits of set aside could be retained by introducing a fixed percentage of total area as an “environmental compensation/priority” area, containing certain landscape features.
According to a reliable source who wanted to remain anonymous, there is allegedly a compromise on the ceiling of individual farmers earning more than 300,000 Euro where the beneficiary stands to lose 70 percent of the subsidies while those earning lower amounts will lose far less.
The earlier proposal was to drastically cut the subsidies to big farms but the pressure from lobby groups seems to have paid off, the source pointed out.
On the subject of milk quotas, the document is more critical saying, “Milk quotas hold back the sector from achieving the objectives of CAP reform since they still reflect concerns of two decades back, instead of responding to present opportunities.” “In terms of agricultural markets, the phasing out of milk quotas and removal of set-aside will allow the farmers to better respond to market situations.”
The milk farmers claim that they will lose up to 300 million Euro from these cuts and they want the system to continue, but there is also friction between old 15 and new 10 farmer lobbies and that is affecting the proposals.
Moreover, on the subject of disposal of pesticides to farmers, the European farmers are facing tough challenges as the number of active substances is going down with the new REACH regulations coming in whereby companies are reluctant to do the necessary tests for all pesticides as its cost and time consuming.
The agriculture insiders predicted that even with compromises already agreed, the ministers are set to have a bitter political battle as each side tries to prove that the food crisis makes its preferred policy the only safe one to adopt.
The two divergent view point were crystal clear as the British Finance Minister Alistair Darling wrote to EU counterparts saying it is “unacceptable that, at a time of significant food price inflation, the EU continues to apply very high import tariffs to many agricultural commodities,” while Germany’s Agriculture Minister, Horst Seehofer, argued that “we have to make sure that we can provide this continent with food sustainability. This cannot be done by taking away subsidies from European farmers.”
The CAP, a complex and expensive system of subsidies designed to protect European farmers’ interests, has often been blamed for keeping European food prices artificially high.
With world markets booming, it is time for Europe to remove quota system and go for liberalisation of the European markets which in turn will help bring down the prices but the documents said, “The continuation of present CAP policies shows that the current policy framework, as reformed in 2003, contributes positively to fulfilling the principal CAP objectives.”
European Union agriculture ministers meeting this week in Brussels are set to rubber stamp a middle path of not antagonising major beneficiaries like Germany and France while keeping the hopes of free market advocates like United Kingdom alive with cosmetic reform proposals to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The alarm for urgent need for CAP modification was sounded earlier last week when Joaquin Almunia, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs said prior to a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers: “For the weakest sector of our society, inflation is the main problem. They are suffering a loss of purchasing power, and must pay more for food and other necessary goods.”
Among the measures that governments can take to help their poorest citizens is an improvement to “the functioning of our common agricultural policy (CAP),” he told journalists, adding that the EU should also promote measures aimed at tackling “tension” on the international commodity markets.
The CAP, one of the most hotly-debated policies in the EU, is going to pay out nearly 43 billion Euro in 2009, which amounts to more than one-third of all payments going out of EU coffers. Although there was a CAP reform in 2003 to slash subsidies, but with food prices in the 15-member Eurozone now rising at an annual rate of six percent, market analysts predict dire straits ahead.
According to leaked documents ready for presentation at the “Health Check” of CAP on May 20, “First indications from the assessment of the 2003 reform are in general positive, and indicate that a fundamental reform of the CAP for the remaining horizon of the present financial perspectives (until 2013) is neither necessary nor desirable.”
Another two major areas of concern directly affecting farmers are “set-aside obligation” and “milk quotas.”
The document states: “Removal of the set-aside obligation would likely bring back into production an area corresponding to roughly half the area currently under mandatory set-aside. It has been suggested that the environmental benefits of set aside could be retained by introducing a fixed percentage of total area as an “environmental compensation/priority” area, containing certain landscape features.
According to a reliable source who wanted to remain anonymous, there is allegedly a compromise on the ceiling of individual farmers earning more than 300,000 Euro where the beneficiary stands to lose 70 percent of the subsidies while those earning lower amounts will lose far less.
The earlier proposal was to drastically cut the subsidies to big farms but the pressure from lobby groups seems to have paid off, the source pointed out.
On the subject of milk quotas, the document is more critical saying, “Milk quotas hold back the sector from achieving the objectives of CAP reform since they still reflect concerns of two decades back, instead of responding to present opportunities.” “In terms of agricultural markets, the phasing out of milk quotas and removal of set-aside will allow the farmers to better respond to market situations.”
The milk farmers claim that they will lose up to 300 million Euro from these cuts and they want the system to continue, but there is also friction between old 15 and new 10 farmer lobbies and that is affecting the proposals.
Moreover, on the subject of disposal of pesticides to farmers, the European farmers are facing tough challenges as the number of active substances is going down with the new REACH regulations coming in whereby companies are reluctant to do the necessary tests for all pesticides as its cost and time consuming.
The agriculture insiders predicted that even with compromises already agreed, the ministers are set to have a bitter political battle as each side tries to prove that the food crisis makes its preferred policy the only safe one to adopt.
The two divergent view point were crystal clear as the British Finance Minister Alistair Darling wrote to EU counterparts saying it is “unacceptable that, at a time of significant food price inflation, the EU continues to apply very high import tariffs to many agricultural commodities,” while Germany’s Agriculture Minister, Horst Seehofer, argued that “we have to make sure that we can provide this continent with food sustainability. This cannot be done by taking away subsidies from European farmers.”
The CAP, a complex and expensive system of subsidies designed to protect European farmers’ interests, has often been blamed for keeping European food prices artificially high.
With world markets booming, it is time for Europe to remove quota system and go for liberalisation of the European markets which in turn will help bring down the prices but the documents said, “The continuation of present CAP policies shows that the current policy framework, as reformed in 2003, contributes positively to fulfilling the principal CAP objectives.”
A decade of the Euro
Financial pundits want one Euro voice internationally
With the launch of Euro a decade ago, much was written in the pro-dollar media and the EMU, as the Eurozone is called, was compared with “EMU,” the bird that cannot fly. But then compared to the launch and subsequent drop as the nascent currency took baby steps, the Euro has come of age today gaining nearly 50 percent against the American dollar, the so-called Universal currency.
Financial pundits participating in the annual Brussels Economic Forum conference unanimously voiced the opinion that the Euro, the single European currency, is proving to be a blessing for the Eurozone during the rough turbulent times in the international financial scenario. Pointing out the benefits, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told the audience last week, “EMU has created a zone of macroeconomic stability in Europe.
From day one, the Euro put an end to traumatising exchange rate realignments. Were we without the single currency today, the present dollar weakness would be placing enormous strains on the Euro area economies- for some more than others- and would be having a serious impact on trade and investment. We ought to recall this simple fact, for those who forget our past monetary turbulences.”
Going down memory lane, the Commissioner highlighted how the unifying force of the Euro was helping the Eurozone weather the financial storms, “Indeed, we are much more resilient to external shocks thanks to EMU. This has enabled us to withstand the economic consequences of, among other events, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the bursting of the dotcom bubble. And let there be no doubt that without the shielding effect of the single currency, we would be feeling much more strongly the impact of the current financial turmoil and soaring energy and food prices.”
“And EMU’s successes extend beyond the Euro area. We can be proud to share a currency that is now the second most important in the world. This international status, plus the economic weight of the Euro area, with its credible macroeconomic framework, has allowed EMU to become a pole of stability in the global economy, particularly during the recent period of turbulences.”
In addition to tightening the internal system by reforms, the Commissioner called for “a strong case for the Euro area to increase” its presence in the global arena.
“Our currency is the second most important in the world. Our policy decisions have a global impact and increasingly the Euro area is helping to support the stability of the global economy and financial system. This role brings undoubted advantages, ranging from seniorage revenues and a capacity to place securities among foreign investors at lower interest rates, to certain competitive advantages for Euro area exporters and financial institutions.”
Warning about “risks and responsibilities,” that come with “the exposure of the Euro area – including its financial system – to shocks originating in other parts of the world and to disruptive portfolio shifts between key international currencies,” the Commissioner said, “the Euro area must build an international strategy so that it can play a full part in pursuing global stability and project and defend its interests in the world.”
Urging the Eurozone nations to join hands to put a unified front on the international financial scenario, Almunia said, “This means first developing common positions on international issues so that we can speak with a strong single voice. Once accomplished, the logical next step will be to consolidate our representation and obtain a single seat in international fora.”
At the conference, Almunia was joined by the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, in these calls for unifying Eurozone voices in the international arena. “While the ECB has established itself in a number of international fora, Euro area member states have not yet made as much progress in developing and articulating a common view on broader macroeconomic issues. As a result, too little attention is paid at the global level to the Euro area’s economic challenges.”
Strauss-Kahn told the select gathering of financial experts. “At 10 years old, the Euro area is still a club that people want to join. This is perhaps the strongest indication of its continued success and good prospects,” Strauss-Kahn added, appealing to the EU member states to overcome their political and economic differences and added that the Eurozone lacks the political clout that it should have had by now.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg and the voice of the 15-member Eurogroup voiced optimism at the Forum saying, “In the long term, the Eurozone will be represented in the IMF by one single seat.”
Lamenting the fact that incoming Eurozone finance ministers talk of a single representation at the IMF but forget all about it once in office, Eurozone Chairman Juncker challenged the French President to keep his word, “Mr (Nicolas) Sarkozy, also talked about a single representation in the IMF before he became president (of France). He still has four years (in office). I would encourage him to come back to this soon.”
Today, each of the 15 Eurousing European countries has individual representations at the IMF, an international organisation overseeing the global financial system with a key role in the global economic arena.
On the sidelines of the Forum, political pundits told New Europe, “Let us not forget that Euro has replaced 15 European currencies and some of them like the German mark, French franc and Italian lira were backed by strong economic and industrial giants of the world.
“With the Euro surging not only in value but also as a dependable currency, the world commodity markets, especially relating to oil, will start contemplating a switch to Euro to protect themselves against instable or falling dollar,” they said, and that a strong political will is needed to give the required unified voice to the Eurozone, argued some of the best visionaries in the field.
Almunia aptly concluded with the call for a broad debate to chart out a more unifying fiscal policy to guard interests of ordinary European citizens saying, “EU citizens face a future of rapid changes and greater uncertainty. Economic and Monetary Union must provide stability, prosperity and a platform to represent their interests in the wider world. In the next years we must update our vision of EMU and re-focus the policy framework to achieve this goal.”
With the launch of Euro a decade ago, much was written in the pro-dollar media and the EMU, as the Eurozone is called, was compared with “EMU,” the bird that cannot fly. But then compared to the launch and subsequent drop as the nascent currency took baby steps, the Euro has come of age today gaining nearly 50 percent against the American dollar, the so-called Universal currency.
Financial pundits participating in the annual Brussels Economic Forum conference unanimously voiced the opinion that the Euro, the single European currency, is proving to be a blessing for the Eurozone during the rough turbulent times in the international financial scenario. Pointing out the benefits, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told the audience last week, “EMU has created a zone of macroeconomic stability in Europe.
From day one, the Euro put an end to traumatising exchange rate realignments. Were we without the single currency today, the present dollar weakness would be placing enormous strains on the Euro area economies- for some more than others- and would be having a serious impact on trade and investment. We ought to recall this simple fact, for those who forget our past monetary turbulences.”
Going down memory lane, the Commissioner highlighted how the unifying force of the Euro was helping the Eurozone weather the financial storms, “Indeed, we are much more resilient to external shocks thanks to EMU. This has enabled us to withstand the economic consequences of, among other events, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the bursting of the dotcom bubble. And let there be no doubt that without the shielding effect of the single currency, we would be feeling much more strongly the impact of the current financial turmoil and soaring energy and food prices.”
“And EMU’s successes extend beyond the Euro area. We can be proud to share a currency that is now the second most important in the world. This international status, plus the economic weight of the Euro area, with its credible macroeconomic framework, has allowed EMU to become a pole of stability in the global economy, particularly during the recent period of turbulences.”
In addition to tightening the internal system by reforms, the Commissioner called for “a strong case for the Euro area to increase” its presence in the global arena.
“Our currency is the second most important in the world. Our policy decisions have a global impact and increasingly the Euro area is helping to support the stability of the global economy and financial system. This role brings undoubted advantages, ranging from seniorage revenues and a capacity to place securities among foreign investors at lower interest rates, to certain competitive advantages for Euro area exporters and financial institutions.”
Warning about “risks and responsibilities,” that come with “the exposure of the Euro area – including its financial system – to shocks originating in other parts of the world and to disruptive portfolio shifts between key international currencies,” the Commissioner said, “the Euro area must build an international strategy so that it can play a full part in pursuing global stability and project and defend its interests in the world.”
Urging the Eurozone nations to join hands to put a unified front on the international financial scenario, Almunia said, “This means first developing common positions on international issues so that we can speak with a strong single voice. Once accomplished, the logical next step will be to consolidate our representation and obtain a single seat in international fora.”
At the conference, Almunia was joined by the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, in these calls for unifying Eurozone voices in the international arena. “While the ECB has established itself in a number of international fora, Euro area member states have not yet made as much progress in developing and articulating a common view on broader macroeconomic issues. As a result, too little attention is paid at the global level to the Euro area’s economic challenges.”
Strauss-Kahn told the select gathering of financial experts. “At 10 years old, the Euro area is still a club that people want to join. This is perhaps the strongest indication of its continued success and good prospects,” Strauss-Kahn added, appealing to the EU member states to overcome their political and economic differences and added that the Eurozone lacks the political clout that it should have had by now.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg and the voice of the 15-member Eurogroup voiced optimism at the Forum saying, “In the long term, the Eurozone will be represented in the IMF by one single seat.”
Lamenting the fact that incoming Eurozone finance ministers talk of a single representation at the IMF but forget all about it once in office, Eurozone Chairman Juncker challenged the French President to keep his word, “Mr (Nicolas) Sarkozy, also talked about a single representation in the IMF before he became president (of France). He still has four years (in office). I would encourage him to come back to this soon.”
Today, each of the 15 Eurousing European countries has individual representations at the IMF, an international organisation overseeing the global financial system with a key role in the global economic arena.
On the sidelines of the Forum, political pundits told New Europe, “Let us not forget that Euro has replaced 15 European currencies and some of them like the German mark, French franc and Italian lira were backed by strong economic and industrial giants of the world.
“With the Euro surging not only in value but also as a dependable currency, the world commodity markets, especially relating to oil, will start contemplating a switch to Euro to protect themselves against instable or falling dollar,” they said, and that a strong political will is needed to give the required unified voice to the Eurozone, argued some of the best visionaries in the field.
Almunia aptly concluded with the call for a broad debate to chart out a more unifying fiscal policy to guard interests of ordinary European citizens saying, “EU citizens face a future of rapid changes and greater uncertainty. Economic and Monetary Union must provide stability, prosperity and a platform to represent their interests in the wider world. In the next years we must update our vision of EMU and re-focus the policy framework to achieve this goal.”
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