AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY: End of the production of the TG835 et TG845 EU type in the Netherlands

Last April, the press announced that the American manufacturer AGCO decided to close the production line of its Automotive spreading TerraGator in its located in Grubbenvorst in the Netherlands. On 7 July, AGCO Netherlands BV has sent its French TerraGator clients a letter informing them of the decision of the put an end to the production of TG835 and TG845 of European style. This is a negative ad for the agricultural contractors who professionalism of spraying works with TerraGator brand. The decision of AGCO seems to affect the whole of Europe. At the initiative of the FNEDT, CEETTAR proposes to send a positive message to contractors active in ground crop spraying concerned by this decision and a ”client to supplier” message vis-à-vis of AGCO. Therefore, we invite you to support users of AGCO Challenger TerraGator to share information. As a consequence, we would like you:

• let us know if the members of your organization owning a TerraGator were recipients of a similar letter from AGCO?
• to communicate this letter to compare the information disseminated by AGCO and help us to prepare our message.

For more information, you can contact the secretariat.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Election of the presidents and vice-presidents of the committees

After the election of the new President, Vice-Presidents and Questors of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, parliamentary committees met in Brussels to elect their President and Vice-Presidents for a term of two and half years. The legislative work of the European Parliament is made in twenty standing committees and two subcommittees. Each committee elects a chairman and four vice presidents. Last July the board of the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) was constituted as follows: President Czesław Adam SIEKIERSKI (EPP, PL) and four vice-presidents Eric ANDRIEU (S&D, FR), Janusz WOJCIECHOWSKI (ECR, PL), Clara AGUILERA (S&D, ES) & Vasilica-Viorica DĂNCILĂ (S&D, RO). For moreinformation: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/agri/members.html

RURAL DEVELOPMENT : Partnership agreements with 5 member-states

The Commission adopted the partnership agreements that define the strategies to be implemented in five Member States (France, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and the Czech Republic) for the period 2014-2020 for the Structural Funds and the European Investment : regional Development Fund (ERDF), social (ESF), the Cohesion Fund, rural Development (EAFRD), fisheries and Maritime Affairs (EMFF).

According to the Commission, it is now up to member states ”to provide rural development plans ambitious, balanced and focused that can provide opportunities for farmers and rural areas to meet these challenges.” In the case of France, the agreement specifies how to invest the amount of € 15.9 billion in total for the cohesion policy (at current prices) and 11 , € 4 billion for rural development in the national economy over the seven years. For The Netherlands, the envelope under the cohesion policy is € 1.4 billion and that for rural development of € 607 million. These amounts are respectively €21.46 and € 4.06 billion in the case of Portugal, 23 and € 8 billion in the case of Romania, 22 and € 2 billion in the case of the Czech Republic. Agreements of this type have already been signed with Denmark, Germany, Poland, Greece, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Cyprus. For more information on the agreements, they are available on the following web page:http://ec.europa.eu/contracts_grants/agreements/index_en.htm

FOREST: Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the EU Forest strategy

On 10 July, the EESC has adopted favorably the new EU strategy for forests. Whereas in today’s forests are under pressure and increasing threats and that many sectoral EU policies and regulations associated with them have an impact on forestry and forests, the EESC urges the Commission and Member States to ensure that the strategy is implemented efficiently and effectively. In its opinion, the EESC supports the holistic and balanced approach chosen, based on the three pillars (economic, environmental and social) sustainability. However, given the great importance of forests for the development of rural areas and the prospects for achieving the objectives set in the strategy, the EESC calls for inclusion of measures concerning forestry in the rural development programs and promote them to ensure better absorption of available funding. Finally, the EESC urges the Commission, the EU Member States and other stakeholders to continue negotiations on forests in Europe to reach consensus on a legally binding agreement. For more information, the document is available: http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.nat-opinions

Agenda for the next 4 weeks