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News Releases
No. 07/07
February 1, 2007
EU INITIAL REACTION TO U.S. FARM BILL
"This is a 183-page document, which will need careful
study before we reach definitive conclusions. And this
is not the final word, but the Administration's first
steer to Congress.
"So far where
Doha
[World Trade Organization Trade Round] is concerned, it is not possible for
us to form a clear view from this proposal of what the
Administration's negotiating approach will be.
"We note a modest shift towards more 'green' direct
payments. We are examining the proposals on
Counter-Cyclical payments to see if they offer any
genuine improvement.
"Cuts in Loan Deficiency Payments – the basic safety net
of the 2002 Farm Bill – are extremely modest. Key trade
distorting programs for dairy and sugar remain virtually
untouched.
"The proposals assume that commodity prices will remain
at their current high levels. If so, US farm support
will be lower. But if price trends change, trade
distorting farm support would rise again under these
proposals.
"If we are to have a successful outcome to the Doha
Round, the US will need to propose more ambitious cuts
and disciplines in trade-distorting domestic farm
subsidies.
"We had hoped the Administration's proposal for the new
Farm Bill would signal this more clearly. But this is
not the end of the story: further steps are not
precluded by these initial proposals.
"We in the EU are already going through a painful
process of reform, which allows us to offer to cut our
trade-distorting domestic farm subsidies by 70 percent.
There is a clear obligation on all of us in the
developed world to move decisively in this direction."
Further Contact Information
Press and Public Diplomacy
Delegation of the European Commission
2300 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
http://www.eurunion.org/PressRoom
Tel: 202-862-9552
Fax: 202-429-1766
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