EU to cut payments to large farms
EU negotiators agreed large farms will lose up to 30% of current subsidy payments in a major step towards consensus on reforms to the annual €50bn farm policy, but tough issues such as sugar quotas remain.
Representatives from EU governments, the European Parliament and the European Commission reached provisional agreement on elements of the complex reform to the common agricultural policy (CAP) during the first day of talks in Luxembourg, which ended in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Negotiators aim to strike a final deal at a second round of talks in Brussels on Wednesday.
"On a lot of the big issues we have an agreement in principle, but I think it is very important to stress that this deal is not done," Irish farm minister Simon Coveney, who represented EU governments in the talks, said.
One of the main objectives is to shift to subsidies that are based on the size of agricultural holdings, replacing the current link between farm payments and historical production levels in many parts of Europe.
The present system disproportionately benefits those who has the largest output in 2000-2002, such as industrial-scale grain producers in France's Paris basin.
Europe's largest farms could have lost up to 40% of their current subsidies in the reforms, but negotiators agreed to give governments an option to set an upper limit at 30%.
"I think it's a fair deal. This is about redistributing in a fair way that doesn't have a significant shock effect on agriculture, in particular the productive side of agriculture," Coveney said.
But critics warned that cutting subsidies to Europe's largest and most efficient farms could harm the bloc's food security.
Steady progress
EU officials involved in the talks said good progress had been made towards a deal, particularly in the area of direct subsidies, which will continue to consume three-quarters of the total farm budget from 2014-2020.
Agreement was reached that 30% of future direct subsidies should be conditional on farmers' taking steps to improve their environmental performance.
That will include leaving 5 percent of their arable land fallow as a haven for wildlife - a share that could potentially increase to 7% from 2017.
Farm groups have warned that forcing farmers to leave large swathes of land out of cultivation could hit European food production.
Provisional agreement was also reached to prevent certain landowners such as airports, golf courses and campsites from claiming EU farm subsidies as they can at present.
Officials said some tricky issues remained, including a disagreement over the deadline for abolishing EU sugar production quotas, which are blamed for pushing up domestic prices and limiting European sugar exports.
The Commission proposed an end to quotas in 2015, while governments would prefer 2017 and the parliament 2020. EU officials involved in the talks say a phase-out in 2017 is the most likely outcome but that a final decision will not be taken before Wednesday.
Governments also oppose the setting of an upper limit on annual payments to individual farms of €300 000, which is backed by the Commission and parliament. To avoid scuppering a deal on CAP reform, the issue is expected to be left to linked talks on the EU's long-term budget.
To offset the impact of shifting subsidies away from some producers, negotiators have agreed to let some governments link up to 15 percent of total subsidies to output, which critics say reverses some of the market liberalisation of recent reforms.
Agriculture will consume nearly 40% of the bloc's €960bn ($1.3trn) budget for 2014-2020 - the period covered by the reform - ensuring it remains the biggest single item of EU expenditure.
Europe's biggest agricultural producer, France, will continue to scoop the largest share of CAP funds at around €8bn a year, followed by Spain and Germany each with about €6bn annually.
If the negotiators strike a deal on Wednesday as expected, it must be rubber-stamped by the full parliament and EU governments before entering force on January 1 next year.
CEO: UK consumers can drive tax change
Britain's consumers, rather than its politicians, are more likely to bring about change in the country's taxation regime, the boss of its third-largest grocer J Sainsbury said on Tuesday.
Several companies, including Google and coffee chain Starbucks have faced criticism from UK tax campaigners over the way they structure their tax affairs, provoking consumer anger and pledges from political leaders to act.
Last week, leaders of the world's eight richest economies said they would take a tougher stance on tax evasion but promised little in the way of specific new action at the end of a two-day summit in Northern Ireland.
"It's much more likely that consumer action will change corporations' attitude than government action because it will be so difficult to move the dial across international borders," Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury's, told delegates at the British Retail Consortium's (BRC) Retail Symposium 2013.
He said if consumers changed where they shopped tomorrow, corporations would quickly change their attitude to tax.
"The things that bring about most corporations' Damascene conversions is realising that actually it's hurting them in their core franchise," he said.
King said the tax debate in Britain had shifted to two distinct issues.
Firstly there was the "moral issue" of some companies arranging their tax affairs so they do not pay their way but still expect to benefit from what the tax system pays for, such as education, health and roads.
Secondly there was the debate about the unfairness of tax becoming part of the competitive dynamic, with internet players having an advantage over traditional retailers.
"As our industry is changing away from a property-intensive industry to one in which property plays a part but a much lesser part than it has historically, our tax system, that raises local taxes primarily on property, is exposed as an historical anachronism," said King.
"It clearly has to change and is a legitmate debate for us and the BRC to be driving."
Jane Austen to feature on UK banknotes
The writer of 19th century classics such as "Pride & Prejudice", "Sense & Sensibility" and "Emma" is already a "reserve" figure whose image could be a clear candidate to replace that of naturalist Charles Darwin on the 10-pound note when his time is up, King said on Tuesday.
The announcement potentially defuses criticisms of a future lack of female figures on the currency, which have been levelled at the central bank since it said in April that wartime leader Winston Churchill would feature on the five-pound note from 2016, replacing prison reformer Elizabeth Fry.
Churchill and Darwin will complement economist Adam Smith and steam engine inventors Matthew Boulton and James Watt to complete the all-male line-up - other than the image of Queen Elizabeth on the overleaf.
The monarch is on one side of each of Britain's four denominations of bank notes, while celebrated Britons take their turn for 10 to 20-year stints on the other side.
Austen would be a well-known and likely popular choice. Her novels of romance among the Regency gentry, spiced with sharp social comment, still regularly feature on bestseller and literature course reading lists, and have spawned numerous period-drama TV shows and film adaptations.
Historical women figures should be chosen as individuals rather than for their gender, King said at his final appearance as governor before parliament's Treasury Committee.
"One thing which we are quite determined to avoid is any suggestion that the five pound note in some sense be reserved for women," he said.
The notes featuring Fry would continue to circulate for some time and although the final decision as to the identity of the next figure would be one for the incoming governor, Canadian Mark Carney, it was unlikely that there would be a time when there were no females, King said.
"I think it is extremely unlikely that we should ever find ourselves in the position where there are no women among the historical figures on our banknotes.
ECB not changing rates soon
The European Central Bank has no intention of altering eurozone interest rates for the time being, as economic conditions remain weak, executive board member Benoit Coeure said on Tuesday.
"Let me state quite clearly that I do not intend to drop any hints about a change in the monetary policy stance in the euro area in the near future," Coeure told an investors' conference in London.
"A reversal would not be warranted by current economic conditions," he said.
A copy of his speech was made available by the ECB in Frankfurt.
Area-wide economic growth was projected to remain weak this year and inflation was expected to remain clearly below 2.0 percent.
"The various non-standard measures that have been introduced by the ECB to support monetary policy transmission in certain market segments will stay in place as long as necessary, and there are other measures, standard and non-standard, that we can deploy if warranted," Coeure said.
"Therefore, at the current juncture, there should be no doubts that our 'exit' is distant and our monetary policy is and will remain accommodative," he said.
At its regular policy meeting earlier this month, the ECB held its key rate unchanged at its current record low of 0.50%, and president Mario Draghi insisted the bank stood "ready to act" to give the eurozone's economy a much-needed shot in the arm.
Internet devices grow amid mobile shift
Global sales of Internet devices including PCs, tablets and mobile phones is showing steady growth in 2013, amid a shift to more mobile gadgets, a survey showed on Monday.
The Gartner survey suggests the number of these devices will increase 5.9% in 2013 to 2.35 billion, driven by sales in tablets, smartphones, and to a lesser extent, "ultramobile" PCs.
Traditional desk-based and notebook PC shipments are forecast to drop 10.6% to 305 million units, not including ultramobiles, a new category of PCs which includes smaller computers including convertible tablets.
Tablet shipments are expected to grow 67.9% to 202 million units, while the mobile phone market will grow 4.35 to 1.8 billion.
"Consumers want anytime-anywhere computing that allows them to consume and create content with ease, but also share and access that content from a different portfolio of products," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.
"Mobility is paramount in both mature and emerging markets."
Sales of ultramobile PCs, which include the Google Chromebook, are expected to double in 2013 but remain at a relatively modest 20 million units, Gartner said.
Gartner said the red-hot growth in tablets and smartphones will taper off as these devices gain longer life cycles. The report said many consumers are opting for "basic" tablets to cut costs.
It said Apple's iPad mini represented 60% of overall Apple tablet sales in the first quarter of 2013.
"The increased availability of lower priced basic tablets, plus the value add shifting to software rather than hardware will result in the lifetimes of premium tablets extending as they remain active in the household for longer," said Gartner's Ranjit Atwal.
Lower-priced smartphones are also impacting the market, it found.
"Volume expectations for 2013 have been brought down as the life cycles lengthen as consumers wait for new models and lower prices to hit the market in the fall and holiday season," Atwal said.
"The challenge in the smartphone market is also that, as penetration moves more and more to the mass market, price points are lowering and in most cases so do margins."
Google's Android is expected to extend its dominance in 2013, accounting for 866 million devices, ahead of Microsoft Windows and Apple's iOS.
But Gartner said Apple is the most "homogeneous" with a large number of products in each segment, while Windows dominates in PCs and Android in smartphones.
No comments:
Post a Comment