(EU) What will the common agricultural policy (CAP) look like in the years to come? Work on the CAP reform package started on 20 October with the Commission's presentation of its proposals to the Council of the European Union.
Six of the seven proposals will be co-decided by the ordinary legislative procedure between the Council and the European Parliament. The new rules should enter into force on 1 January 2014.
As regards agriculture, ministers had an exchange of views on the common agricultural policy (CAP) reform package, thus initiating in the Council the debate on the future of CAP for the months. to come.
In addition, the Council held a policy debate on the distribution of food products to the most deprived persons in the Union. Ministers could not secure a majority in favour of the Commission proposal.
Implementation of the laying hens directive
Ministers were briefed by the Commission on the implementation of directive 1999/74 on the protection of laying hens.
During the February Agriculture Council, when this issue was discussed, most delegations were opposed to prolonging the deadline of 1st January 2012 scheduled to phase out conventional cages. They generally considered producers had made huge efforts on this important animal welfare issue and delaying implementation would be unfair on these farmers.
The Commission presented the assessment of the current state of implementation of the ban on conventional cages across the EU, based on the data received by member states and on the outcomes of its inspections. Following this evaluation, the Commission considers that the implementation is still incomplete in some member states and regrets that information is still missing for some countries. A specific meeting with the member states on this issue is called by the Commission for avoiding potential disruption of the egg market at the end of this year.
Directive 1999/74 provides that conventional cages will have to be phased out in the EU by 1 January 2012 since found unacceptable for animal welfare reasons. This cages have to be replaced either by enriched cages or alternative systems. Member States are primarily responsible for the implementation of the directive, since its adoption.
More information: Press release (PDF)
