Austrian agriculture minister Josef Proell has criticised the European Commission’s proposal for reform in EU sugar policy and said he would call for an ammendment to it at the next session of EU agriculture ministers, according to the APA Economic News Service.
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According to Proell the proposal would lead to high unemployment. Austria will call for a smaller price reduction to ensure sugar beet production in the country, Proell said, adding that an subsidy price should be maintained and compensation payments should be higher. Imports of ecologically and socially unacceptable products should also be banned, Proell added.
The EU agriculture ministers will discuss the proposal and take a final decision in July 2005. The plans would ruin large producers, Rudolf Schwarzboeck, president of Austria’s Agriculture Chamber, said.
