Brasília, June 23, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - On Friday (20), during the Brazil-United States bilateral summit meeting, the Minister of Agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues, asserted that the postponement of the reform of the European Union's (EU) Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reinforces skepticism over agricultural negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO). "I deeply regret the postponement of the CAP reform, because these changes would allow us to make progress in agricultural negotiations in the WTO," he said. The meeting on the PAC set for last week was rescheduled for this week.

The Minister was hoping that a reduction in European agricultural subsidies would be approved at the discussions over CAP reform, in Luxembourg. In his opinion, this would be a meaningful step towards an agreement between the Mercosud and the EU, as well as having repercussions on negotiations at the WTO and over the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The EU is discussing a reduction of around 5% in the annual amount spent on subsidies, as well a change in the focus of payments, for producers instead of for production, as proposed in 2002 by the European commissioner of Agriculture, the Austrian, Franz Fischler. (DAS)