Ahead of next week’s Farm Council in Brussels, Copa & Cogeca – the Brussels-based organisation that represents the EU’s farming unions – is calling for an immediate move to introduce legislation on Unfair Trading Practices (UTPs).

This was the recommended course of action in last month’s report by the taskforce set up by Commissioner Hogan to examine the issue of UTPs and the lack of transparency beyond the farm gate. It was also a priority of the Slovakian presidency, which chairs its last Farm Council meeting in Brussels next week. There was an overwhelming vote of support in the Parliament back in June, but despite the apparent momentum, plenty of obstacles remain.

The council of agricultural ministers is known to be divided about introducing legislation, and latest drafts suggest a toning down of wording from the blunt conclusions of the Taskforce. The council will decide on Monday if it will call on the Commission to introduce the legislation that would give force to the recommendations of the taskforce report.

Imbalance of power

Speaking today in advance of the council of ministers getting together on Monday, Copa & Cogeca secretary general Pekka Pesonen said: “There is a big imbalance of power between the different actors in the food chain. This, combined with unfair trading practices, puts farmers in an extremely difficult situation where, quite often, the price the producer gets does not even cover his production costs.”

He said that Copa & Cogeca welcomes recommendations made by the Task Force and that legislation was needed at an EU level which combines with voluntary codes of practice, to ensure a more transparent and better-functioning food supply chain.

“EU framework legislation is vital to curb UTPs and must be combined with an effective enforcement mechanism so that operators are sanctioned when they break EU law. An independent third party ombudsman must be able to impose sanctions whenever there is non-compliance,” Pesonen said.

Reports from Brussels will feature on www.farmersjournal.ie on Monday.

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