Excerpt from: Outcome of The European Union's Agriculture Council of June 2004

The Council held a public debate on the Commission’s proposal for an organic action plan. The reform of the CAP, and in particular decoupling of support, presents great opportunities for farmers to reorient their production in this way. Therefore, the message Commissioners Franz Fischler and Sandra Kalniete passed, was to appeal to Member States, especially the new Member States, to make full use of measures already available to support organic farming, and in particular measures to expand and develop the market. According to the action plan, the EU-logo should be a central part of an EU-wide information campaign as it is an essential instrument to increase the visibility of organic produce, and increase consumer awareness. At the same time a more widely use of the EU-logo will remove some of the obstacles to the internal trade, due to the different private standards, which we often see today.

The aim of the Action Plan is to set out the EU’s vision for the future of the organic farming sector and the role of public policy measures in its development. “If market opportunities for farmers do not exist, they will not see organic farming as a promising avenue. Healthy and sustained growth of the organic sector is only possible provided market demand is increasing”, Mr Fischler said.

Commissioner Kalniete turned to one of the more controversial issues, namely the presence of genetically modified organisms. Last year, the Commission set out guidelines for Member States concerning the co-existence of GMOs with conventional and organic farming. “It is important that all Member States use these guidelines and establish national rules for coexistence as soon as possible. On the GM thresholds question, voices call for a lower limit for organic than for conventional product labelled as “GM free”. I believe this is could be a difficult path to follow. We might end up with some product being described as “free” and other product described as “more free” ! That would only confuse consumers. Therefore, there are surely strong arguments to support the view that thresholds for conventional and organic product should be considered together”, Ms. Kalniete claimed.

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