By PITA LIGAIULA of PACNEWS
Brussels- The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) bloc Monday reiterated its call for the European Union (EU) to extend sugar quotas until 2020.
The Council of the European Union in March issued a mandate to scrap EU sugar quotas by 2017 and that the final decision is now set for June.
The EU introduced its system of national production quotas and minimum beet prices in 1968, to guarantee domestic supplies and provide a minimum income to Europe’s sugar beet farmers.
But in recent years, the strict quota limits have been blamed for creating artificial shortages in Europe and pushing up prices, increasing pressure to scrap them once and for all.
Cripple ACP economies
The chairman of the ACP Subcommittee on Sugar, Ambassador Patrick Gomes of Guyana argued abolishing sugar quotas before 2020 could cripple ACP developing economies.
“We are concerned with what is happening with the European Union reforming its Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).
“In that reform, the EU parliament has supported a position that quotas provided to beet growers and beet farmers should be extended until 2020, and we are in support of that position,” Ambassador Gomes said in an interview with PACNEWS.
The European Parliament has said the regime should be maintained until 2020, backing the argument from beet farmers that they need more time to prepare for deregulation.
Regime to be maintained
“We are in support of that position because we need the time to look at a more competitive industry and also to utilize their accompanying measures support programme that had been given to the former sugar protocol countries when the price of sugar was cut at 36 percent.
“Though it seems a large amount €1.2 billion (FJ$2.89452 billion), we must remember that similar farmers who are affected in Europe receive € 12 billion (FJ$ 28.9 billion) as grant money and they come under decoupling farm income programme.
“So we want to make good use of that money but the Commission itself in disbursing that money has put lot of red tape and complication that has slowed it down.
“The money was to be front loaded so we can utilize it to enhance productivity, look at competitiveness and also take care of the social impact that will resulted from such a reduction in the price of sugar and affected our industry,” Ambassador Gomes explained.
Ambassador calls on EU flexibility
Mr Gomes also called on the EU to ensure flexibility in implementing the Accompanying Measures Support Programme (AMSP) to allow maximum disbursement of allocated resources so that all resources are collectively utilised and not forfeited.
He said the EU has circulated a summary on the state of contracts and disbursements up to April this year.
To date, €681 (FJ$1.6 billion) million has been contracted and €514 (FJ$1,.2 billion) million paid out.
“This is how the Accompanying measures are being managed – some countries get them on budget support, some countries have to go through the long process of contracts. With contracts many difficulties keep arising and when the delegation in respective countries are not strongly supportive and facilitating it, it means the money stays there.
Only 41 percent of the money has been made available at this stage when we are coming to the last year.
That is what we have to try and debate and issue a clear position to the EU Commission to understand our concern,” said Mr Gomes.
Working with ACP
Mr Gomes said the ACP is also working on how they can make use of the Sugar Research and Innovative Programme.
“We want to look at upgrading the skills and expertise and also equipment. We’ve had some money in the projects, you know one of the research programmes is taking place in Fiji, some in Mauritius, Swaziland and Jamaica and Barbados.
“We want those research funds to be utilized because we see a second phase that will be built on the results of the research so far, so these matters are very important and we want to see them,” said Mr Gomes.