Growers set to Protest Over Subsidy Rebuff

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 11/20/2008

Tobacco growers are expected to protest in Bruxelles today following yesterday's statement by the EU's Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mariann Fischer-Boel, that she would not consider extending tobacco subsidies until 2013. EU ministers are due to start negotiating a mini-reform of EU farm policy today. As things stand, tobacco subsidies will be fully decoupled from production from 2010, but eight producer countries are asking for the deadline to be moved to help alleviate the social impact that decoupling will cause. Four of those countries were not part of the EU when the reforms were struck in 2004. Fischer-Boel hinted that there might be other ways within the system of rural development for mitigating the worst effects of the decoupling of tobacco subsidies. Enditem