THE publication of a paper on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy by agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos next Wednesday in Brussels has been put back a day.
This is because of differences between him and president of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, according to sources in Brussels.
These have arisen following the publication of a commission document on trade which said the completion of crucial EU negotiations at the World Trade Organisation with other major bilateral trading partners such as India and Mercosur - South America’s leading trading bloc – would increase European GDP by more than 1 per cent per year. However while the paper underlines the importance of broadening the multilateral trade agenda – and securing more free trade agreements – it neglects to reference whether trade adjustment support within the EU farm sector should, or will, be provided, when liberalisation deals mean conceding EU agricultural market access.
In a letter sent to Mr Barroso last week, Mr Ciolos criticised the paper’s failure to address potential trade imbalances which could occur between the EU and third countries on the back of differing regulatory burdens.
Instead, a rules-based – fairer – negotiating framework should be implemented, something which the commission college failed to acknowledge before adopting the paper, he argued.
This issue is to be addressed at a meeting of the commission on Wednesday and the publication of Mr Ciolos’s Cap reform ideas has been put back to Thursday.