French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier -- whose country has the biggest farming sector in Europe -- has said he will urge his EU counterparts, at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, to come up with a "European initiative on food security" throughout the world.

He has stressed the urgency of the problem as unrest linked to the price hikes in cereals and other basic foodstuffs multiplies throughout the world, notably in Africa but recently also in Haiti.

Haiti's prime minister was ousted Saturday in a no-confidence vote after more than a week of violent demonstrations over rocketing food and fuel prices.

The soaring prices of basic foodstuffs could cause a "humanitarian tsunami" in Africa, where a high proportion of household income goes on food, EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel warned earlier this month.

For France, which will assume the EU's rotating presidency in July, and others that means the agricultural sector must concentrate on food production and moves to drastically cut the EU's farming subsidies should be resisted.

As far as food production is concerned, the EU has already taken some measures, increasing milk quotas and scrapping a requirement to let some land lie fallow.

On the other hand EU nations have also made the use of biofuels a key plank of a climate change package, a move which detractors argue is a direct threat to food production in Europe and elsewhere.

The French government pushed its message in the Liberation daily on Friday.

"Europe, with its high-performing farming sector and its common policy must clearly play a providing and regulating role on world food markets," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, European Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet and Human Rights Minister Rama Yade among others in a published joint statement.

"The increase in the cost of food paradoxically presents an opportunity, to revive investment in the farming sector," they added.

The sentiments will have been noted in Brussels where the European Union is engaged in a debate on the future of the bloc's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

For Europe's farming giant the rising food prices and attendant problems provide a chance to prepare the ground for some tricky negotiations on the future of the CAP budget, the EU single-biggest expenditure, after 2013.

Britain has declared itself largely in agreement with France on the need to tackle the rising prices of basic foodstuffs.

However London insists that action is required more on a global than an EU level.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged his counterpart in Japan, which presides over the G8, to put the matter high on the agenda when the group of major industrialised nations holds a summit in July.

"We share the growing concerns about food security and believe a coordinated response from the international community is needed," a British diplomat in Brussels explained.

However London does not come to the same conclusions as Paris.

"That is why the prime minister has written to the Japanese prime minister ahead of the G8 summit. It's important to remember that its the poorest people that are faced with the biggest problems" because of rising food prices, the diplomat added.

Britain, which wants to see Europe's agriculture budget decreased, in particular sees the current situation as underlining the need for a rapid agreement for a trade liberalisation deal at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Another European diplomat said European priorities "should not be about resisting CAP reform or pushing towards a more protectionist stance on trade."

France, implacably opposed to major concessions on the CAP, goes as far as to argue that agriculture should be taken out of the WTO talks, especially given the new imperatives on world markets.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Farming Today - Suppliers and Technology

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News