EU sugar reform date set

THE EUROPEAN Union is to unveil revised plans next month on how it plans to reform the EU’s sugar regime.

EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel made the anouncement on Tue (May 10).

“I’ll put the legal proposal in front of you on June 22 with a view to have a discussion in the council [of ministers] in July and if possible a political agreement in November,” she said.

The EU has been under pressure to propose a package of reform after the World Trade Organisation found EU subsidies for sugar production to be illegal following a complaint by Australia, Brazil and Thailand.

Mrs Fischer Boel has made securing an agreement on reform proposals a top priority ahead of meeting of ministers from the WTO in December this year in Hong Kong.