|
January 9, 2004
On
22 January 2004
the European Commission will hold a 'European Hearing on Organic
Food and Farming Towards a European Action Plan' in
Brussels.
The main purpose of this hearing is to listen to the views of
the widest possible range of stakeholders, including experts in
the agricultural, environmental and consumer field and to gather
experiences from pilot initiatives. Following this public
hearing, the Commission will prepare an Action Plan in the form
of a Communication to the European Council and Parliament,
including a list of possible actions to boost organic farming.
The Brussels hearing is to provide the Commission with the most
complete and appropriate guidance from stakeholders with a view
to drawing up this Action Plan. Commissioner Franz Fischler will
hold a press conference at the end of the hearing, at 6pm in the
Centre Borschette (details see below).
Commenting on
the hearing, Franz Fischler, Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural
Development and Fisheries said: "There are important
questions we need to address. How, for example, can we boost
trade and consumption of organic products in the EU? How can we
facilitate production and processing? How can we ensure
traceability and organic authenticity and, linked to this, how
can we support the co-existence of organic farming with either
conventional methods or genetically modified agriculture? I hope
that this hearing will provide us with valuable input to answer
these questions".
Over a 100
stakeholder organisations, Agricultural Ministers from Member
States, Acceding and Candidate Countries and the press will be
invited to participate in this conference.
In the
morning, two panels with stakeholder experts will hold
discussions on the place of organic farming in European
agriculture and in the wider European society. The final session
in the afternoon will conclude on the morning's discussions.
Further
details, including documentation and the provisional programme,
can be found on DG Agriculture's web-page on the Europa server:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/events/organic/index_en.htm
Registration
for the hearing should preferably be undertaken via the
following web-page:
http://scic.cec.eu.int/scic/owa/WEB_MTKF.reg_form?confID=04AGRIORG
Those members
of the press who wish to participate should also indicate
whether they intend to be present for the whole hearing or
whether they intend to be present only at the press conference
by sending an email to the Organic Hearing mailbox
AGRI-BIOHEARING2004@cec.eu.int
Programme
|
08h00 -
09h00 |
Registration of participants
Coffee |
|
09h15 -
09h45 |
Welcome
and introduction
Mr Franz
Fischler, Member of the European Commission responsible for
Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries
Mr Joe Walsh, Minister for Agriculture and Food, Ireland |
|
09h45 -
11h15 |
Session 1
The place of organic farming in European agriculture
Introduction by Chairman Mr Corrado Pirzio-Biroli, Head of
Cabinet of Commissioner Franz Fischler
"What do
consumers expect from organic farming?"
Mr David Byrne, Member of the European Commission
responsible for Health and Consumer Protection
"What do organic farmers expect from policy makers?" Mr
Francis Blake, president of IFOAM-EU
"From farm supply to consumer packages, challenges for the
processing industry" Mrs Marina Mastromauro, Pasta GRANORO
of Corato
"How can
we optimise the market?" Mrs Maria Itziar Aguirre Jiménez,
University
of Sevilla
Questions from the audience and open discussion. |
|
11h15 -
11h45 |
Coffee
break |
|
11h45 -
13h15 |
Session 2
The place of organic farming in the wider European society
Introduction by Chairman Mr Dirk Ahner, Deputy
Director-General, DG Agriculture
"Are the
organic consumer labels conveying the right message?"
Mr Toralf Richter, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
(FiBL)
"Marketing and distribution concepts - the view of the
supermarket" Mr Tony Sullivan, Sainsbury's
"Can the organic standards continue to meet societal
demands?" Mr Raffaele Zanoli,
University
of Ancona
"Coexistence with GMOs and organic seed production"
Mrs Birte Boelt, Danish Research Centre for Organic Farming
(DARCOF)
Questions from the audience and open discussion |
|
13h15 -
15h30 |
Lunch
break. Buffet lunch with the participation of Mr Franz
Fischler |
|
15h30 -
17h30 |
Session 3
Concluding session
Introduction by Chairman Mr José Manuel Silva Rodríguez,
Director-General, DG Agriculture
Reports from the morning sessions by the two Chairmen
The key issues: Mr Nicolas Lampkin, University of Wales
Questions from the audience and open discussion
Closing remarks by Mr Franz Fischler |
|
18h00 -
19h00 |
Press
conference with Mr Franz Fischler |
General
information
Date : 22 January 2004
Hearing venue
European Commission
Conference Centre Albert Borschette
Room 0A (conference room) Room 0B (press conference)
Rue Froissart 36
B-1040 Brussels
Tel. +32/2/2958700 or +32/2/2952659
Fax. + 32/2/2955690
Welcome desk
A Welcome Desk will be at the disposal of all participants at
the Hearing on 22 January from 07h00 until 19.00.
Costs
No registration fee will be requested for participation at the
conference. The European Commission will not be able to
reimburse any expenses incurred in relation to this Hearing.
Lunch
Participants are invited to a buffet lunch with the
participation of Commissioner Fischler.
Interpretation
Simultaneous interpretation will be provided from English,
French, German, Spanish and Italian into the same languages
during the hearing and during the press conference.
Contact person
Frank Leguen de Lacroix
Head of Information Policy on Agriculture and Rural Development
Phone 32-2-2952963
Fax 32-2-2991761
Email :
AGRI-BIOHEARING2004@cec.eu.int |
