Summary of newspapers of the previous day – 24.6. 2009

Will ministers of environment reduce industrial pollution?

A main point of negotiation of the Council of Ministers of Environment, which takes place in Luxembourg tomorrow, will be negotiation on an industrial emissions direction. It should protect European waters, land s and the air against pollution caused by industrial production. Other discussed topics will be bio-diversity, a climatic change, treatment with biological waste, and land protection.

Sugar reached limit 17 cents for weight pound

In frame of yesterday´s trade séance on the Change ICE Futures U.S., a price of the most active October futures contract for sugar jumped at the highest level since July 2006. One of causes is speculations according to which a production deficit of the mentioned commodity will drag on this year also to the following one. As the second reason we mention a decrease in value of American dollar towards a basket of six main world currencies which generally supported demand for commodities.

Honest eco-fruit-growers suffer from speculators

“I don´t now what will be next”. In these words a farmer Zdeněk Miklas from Poteč in the region Valašské Klobouky describes a result of fight with the Ministry of Agriculture. At the en d of this year´s winter, it unexpectedly changed conditions for obtaining a subsidy for hectare of ecological orchard. Now, it is necessary to have two hundred instead of sixty trees per hectare. However, a usual density in local orchards is one hundred pieces. A reason for the change of conditions was a speculative planting of trees for which none cares, only took subsidies.

Fair system in agriculture? Member states look for common speech, meanwhile

Yesterday, the Council of Ministers under the direction of Jakub Šebesta negotiated again about how direct payments to farmers after 2013 should look. The result is a compromise text, which, however, has not got a support of all member states yet. The strongest voice belonged to representatives of “new” Union states which constantly complain about disadvantage against the EU-15. Most ministers of agriculture pledged themselves in Luxembourg yesterday that they will make the system of supports after 2013 simpler and fairer (above all concerning the division in the old and new countries).