November 22, 2013

The European Commission introduced a draft reform of the information and promotion policy for its agricultural and food products, which benefits from a more substantial budget and will be supported by a European executive agency, and will act as key for opening up new markets.

With the slogan 'Enjoy, it's from Europe', the policy aims to help the sector's professionals break into international markets and make consumers more aware of the efforts made by European farmers to provide quality products, based on a genuine strategy established at European level.

"In a world in which consumers are increasingly aware of the safety, quality and sustainability of food production methods, European farmers and small or medium sized enterprises are in a position of strength. The European agricultural and agri-food sector is well known for the unrivalled quality of its products and its compliance with standards that are unmatched anywhere else in the world. With over €110 billion (US$148 billion) worth of exports already, this is a formidable asset for boosting growth and employment within the EU" commented Dacian Cioloş, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.

This strategy should lead to: an increase in the number of programmes aimed at third countries and multi-country programmes through a higher co-financing rate for these two categories: 60% of EU co-financing instead of 50% currently; on the internal market, overcoming consumers' lack of awareness about the merits of European agricultural products in general and products endorsed by European quality systems in particular.

Widening the scope of measures by: allowing labelling to specify the origin of products and their brands, within certain limits; extending eligible beneficiaries to include producer organisations; extending the range of products eligible for inclusion under European quality systems, particularly to processed agri-food products, such as, for example, pasta; simplifying administrative procedures, with selection henceforth taking place in one phase at the Commission, rather than in two phases as is currently the case (first Member State and then the European Commission); facilitating management of programmes developed jointly by organisations from several Member States via a one-stop system at the Commission.