Summary of newsmakers of the previous day – 30.11. 2006

Call for Czech Republic

The hardest Union discussion, a revision of the Common agricultural policy, could culminate just during Czech presidency, The Euro-commissioner Mariann Fisher Boel said to the magazine Ekonom. Today farmers represent only two percents of labour powers in the EU despite the fact that they spend 40 % of the EU budget. Some polimetricians point out that it is also thanks to division of election districts because farmers’ electoral weight is relatively higher. In a city usually much more votes are necessary to elect one representative. Go to an agricultural committee of the European Parliament and you will get excellent lesson of how voters pressurize their Euro-representatives. Perhaps I do not know names but from a presentation of representative I recognize immediately from where he or she is.

Czech Republic blocked rise in beer price in Brussels

A beer price will not change. The Czech Republic decided to resist and together with Latvia said no to increase of a consumption tax for beer by an inflation rate yesterday. Due to the Czech protest the whole planned adjustment of consumption taxes for alcohol fell from a table finally. Finns who preside at the EU now advocated increase of the tax by 4,5 percent as a compromise. In case of Czech beer the increase would not show itself because already now there is a higher tax in force in the Czech Republic than by how much the minimal rate would increase in case of enforcement of Finnish compromise. In spite of that the Czech minister was against from “principle reasons”.

MZe: Full evening-up of direct payments for year 2007 is on the good way

A maximal evening-up of agricultural direct payments for year 2007 to 70 percent of level in old EU member states is in opinion of the Ministress of Agriculture Milena Vicenová “on the very good way”. Vicenová said to CTK that for an extreme case that an intention to add the missing 1,9 milliard crowns to direct payments would not pass the Ministry has prepared another variant. Moreover, according to the president of Agrarian Chamber Jan Veleba the budget committee of Parliament supported the proposal of the agricultural committee today. “We came to agreement with the Premier that a half of the missing sum would be secured by the resort and a half would be cover from a government reserve”, the Ministress explained.

Second centre of bird flu in Korea

A woman was in contact with hen eggs from a breeding from where death of poultry was reported. Already a second centre of virus H5N1 has been confirmed in a short time in South Korea. Therefore South-Korean offices prepare tight measures to prevent further spread of the disease and reputedly they are going to kill also dogs and pigs in the afflicted areas. The second farm where the virus H5N1 occurs in poultry lies three kilometers from the place of first occurrence. The virus in this locality was a cause of death of about 600 chickens and in the first breeding 6000 died. The afflicted farms lie approximately 250 kilometers southwards from the metropolis Soul on a trace of migratory birds which can be a source of the infection. Since the weekend South-Korean offices have ordered to kill 96 000 pieces of chicken and ducks. The Ministry in a fear of spread of the infection wants to kill 236 000 pieces of poultry and to liquidate six million eggs.

Source: Agris, 01.12.2006