ITALIAN AGRICULTURE: MIXED

UNCLAS ROME 003125

SIPDIS

STATE PASS TO USDA FOR FAS/ITP/SHEIK
MTND/HENKE, FAA/SE/WILSON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD EU IT FAO
SUBJECT: ITALIAN AGRICULTURE: MIXED
REACTIONS TO THE WTO FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT



1. Summary. Reactions of Italian
agricultural opinion leaders to the WTO
framework agreement reached in Geneva July 31
were generally positive. The majority hold
tenaciously to the hope that geographical
indications should be addressed in the WTO.
Government, farmers' organizations, political
parties, media and NGOs are placing different
expectations on the future of the Doha
Development Agenda.
End summary


2. Italian agricultural commentaries focus
on the future of EU geographic indications,
the relevance of the 2003 Common Agriculture
Policy (CAP) reform in the negotiations, and
the welfare effects of agricultural trade
liberalization on the poorest countries.
Italian Minister of Agriculture Gianni
Alemanno drew conclusions about the role of
the EU's leadership in agricultural reform
given the global emphasis on reductions of
support for farmers. According to Alemanno,
the decoupling of farm payments approved in
the recent CAP reform gave the EU the moral
high ground in the negotiation. He also said
that the formulas for reduction of domestic
support and tariffs are finally based on
"fair criteria", meaning posing lower threats
to support for Mediterranean products.
Alemanno also said that the framework
agreement includes a specific timing (May and
July 2005) for work on Geographic Indications
to be completed by technical bodies and the
Council General.
Ministry of Agriculture's Under Secretary
Paolo Scarpa Bonazza Buora, who attended the
Geneva Agriculture Talks on behalf of the
Italian Ministry of Agriculture, commented
that the agreement is a good result and that
the EU Commission should not go beyond the
mandate agreed with the EU Council. Scarpa
argued that in light of the Geneva agreement
Italy should reaffirm its opposition to the
proposal of reform of the EU sugar regime
advanced by the Commission.

FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS.


3. Cutting tariffs and reducing domestic
support where they are more trade distorting
is generally accepted by farmers'
organizations leadership in Italy.
Paradoxically, all farmers' organizations
oppose the recently proposed reform of the EU
sugar regime and suggest to wait for further
developments of the Doha Round. According to
Italian farm leadership, the EU needs to do
very little to comply with the WTO framework
agreement thanks to the EU's recent Common
Agricultural Policy reform. Confagricoltura
criticized the EU Commission again for
pushing for the approval of CAP reform before
the WTO framework agreement was in place.
Confagricoltura argues that a later reform
would have been a better negotiation strategy
for the EU. All the farmers' organizations
identify safeguarding of Geographic
Indications (GI) as a sine qua non for
negotiating an agreement before the
Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in
December 2005. GIs are mentioned under the
"other issues" paragraph in the Agricultural
annex to the framework agreement.


4. Farmer Organization Coldiretti supports
the idea of re-proposing the shortlist of 41
European Geographic Indications, 14 of which
are Italian. The farmer organization
Coldiretti not only wants geographic
indications to be taken up by the WTO, they
insist that the EU submit again the list of
41 products the EU-15 agreed upon prior to
the September 2003 WTO summit in Cancun. None
of the Italian farmer organizations considers
TRIPS the proper venue for the discussion.

MEDIA



5. The Agricultural press commented warmly
and without a great deal of emphasis on the
Geneva agreement. The majority of press
articles published in Italian agricultural
magazines summarize the agreement and report
interviewed opinion leaders for impressions,
not analysis.


OTHER REACTION


6. The SlowFood movement's leader Carlo
Petrini welcomed the framework agreement but
warned that "there is a risk of subsequent
negotiations being disrupted by competing
interests of WTO member countries." According
to Petrini, a further agricultural trade
liberalization would be beneficial to EU and
Italian Farmers as they would be "forced to
shift" from commodity farming to production
of specialties. Comment:
Mr. Petrini does not speak knowledgeably
about negotiations or about agriculture.
Italy's commodity crops include corn and
rice. Italy is the EU's largest rice
producer, and the EU-15's second largest corn
producer. Virtually no one from the flat,
fertile Po River Valley would abandon corn
farming for cheese making because the
vocation of that land is adapted to growing
grain. End comment.

Other NGOs close to the "no-global" movement
strongly oppose the agreement and called for
interruption of the Doha Development Agenda.


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2004ROME03125 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED