Month: June 2007

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Musical chairs at the French Ministry for Agriculture

The surprise parliamentary election defeat last Sunday of Alain Juppé, a leading member of newly-appointed French cabinet has forced President Nicolas Sarkozy into an unplanned cabinet reshuffle. Newly appointed Agriculture Minister Christine Lagarde has been promoted to the post of Finance Minister. The resulting gap at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fishing has been filled by Michel Barnier, who until 2005 served as European Commissioner for regional policy.

Barnier is from the the Isère département of the Rhône-Alpes région where he served in local government in the 1970s and 1980s before entering national politics in the 1990s. Together with Jean-Claude Killy he organised the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville.… Read the rest

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COPA to smarten up its act

Casual explanations of the persistence of the CAP put it down to the strength of the ‘farm lobby’. At a national level, there is some truth in this and the positions of member states in the Farm Council often reflect pressure from their domestic farmers’ organisations. After all, upsetting them is likely to lead to a lot of trouble and very few plaudits.… Read the rest

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UK farm leader says organic shoppers have ‘more money than sense’

In a classic example of how not to win friends and influence people, Peter Kendall, President of the UK National Famers’ Union, has described shoppers who buy organic food as having ‘more money than sense’. In the cover feature of last Saturday’s Financial Times weekend magazine, Kendall takes a swipe at the organic movement and in doing so break the cardinal law of sales: the customer is always right. … Read the rest

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New French farm minister: a ray of hope for reform?

After Nicholas Sarkozy appeared to indicate that it was ‘business as usual’ in French agricultural policy, the appointment of Christine Lagarde as farm minister gives a ray of hope. Named as the 30th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2006, she was formerly trade minister.

She was formerly chief of a big American law firm. Although she has been careful to say that agriculture would continue to have a ‘strategic’ role, Ms Lagarde also said that France could continue its position of ‘intransigence’ for ever. Perhaps she can use her skills as a synchronised swimming champion to move the debate on CAP forward.… Read the rest

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Wine reform will lead to job losses

An impact assessment of the European Commission’s proposed reforms to the CAP wine regime warns that job losses are inevitable in parts of Europe most responsible for the distillation of wine. The report quotes Italian organisations, not an entirely disinterested source, that the sector could lose 75 per centr of its jobs in Italy.… Read the rest