Towards a new European agricultural and agri-food product promotion policy
The European Commission today presented a draft reform of the information and
promotion policy for European agricultural and food products.
This new promotion policy, which benefits from a more substantial budget and
will in the future be supported by a European executive agency, is intended to
act as key for opening up new markets.
With the slogan 'Enjoy, it´s from Europe', the policy aims to help the
sector's professionals break into international markets and make consumers more
aware of the efforts made by European farmers to provide quality products, based
on a genuine strategy established at European level.
"In a world in which consumers are increasingly aware of the safety, quality
and sustainability of food production methods, European farmers and small or
medium sized enterprises are in a position of strength.
The European agricultural and agri-food sector is well known for the
unrivalled quality of its products and its compliance with standards that are
unmatched anywhere else in the world.
With over EUR 110 billion worth of exports already, this is a formidable
asset for boosting growth and employment within the European Union" commented
Dacian Cioloş, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.
This proposal follows on from a wide-ranging debate, ongoing since 2011, on a
Green Paper (IP/11/885), which was followed by a Communication (IP/12/332). The
proposal will now be submitted to the European Parliament and to the Council.
The main elements set out in this reform are:
A significant increase in the aid allocated to information and promotion
initiatives with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness of European
agriculture.
European aid should increase progressively from EUR 61 million in the 2013
budget to EUR 200 million in 2020;
The establishment of a European promotion strategy, which will allow
for promotion measures to be more targeted.
This strategy should lead to:
an increase in the number of programmes aimed at third countries and
multi-country programmes (programmes represented by organisations from several
Member States) through a higher co-financing rate for these two categories: 60%
of EU co-financing instead of 50% currently;
on the internal market, overcoming consumers' lack of awareness about the
merits of European agricultural products in general and products endorsed by
European quality systems in particular.
Widening the scope of measures by:
allowing labelling to specify the origin of products and their brands, within
certain limits;
extending eligible beneficiaries to include producer organisations;
extending the range of products eligible for inclusion under European quality
systems, particularly to processed agri-food products, such as, for example,
pasta;
simplifying administrative procedures, with selection henceforth taking place
in one phase at the Commission, rather than in two phases as is currently the
case (first Member State and then the European Commission);
facilitating management of programmes developed jointly by organisations from
several Member States via a one-stop system at the Commission.