US embassy cable - 04ROME3125

UNCLAS  ROME 003125 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO USDA FOR FAS/ITP/SHEIK 
MTND/HENKE, FAA/SE/WILSON 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, EU, IT, FAO 
SUBJECT:  ITALIAN AGRICULTURE:  MIXED 
REACTIONS TO THE WTO FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT 
 
 
1.  Summary.  Reactions of Italian 
agricultural opinion leaders to the WTO 
framework agreement reached in Geneva July 31 
were generally positive.  The majority hold 
tenaciously to the hope that geographical 
indications should be addressed in the WTO. 
Government, farmers' organizations, political 
parties, media and NGOs are placing different 
expectations on the future of the Doha 
Development Agenda. 
End summary 
 
2.  Italian agricultural commentaries  focus 
on the future of EU geographic indications, 
the relevance of the 2003 Common Agriculture 
Policy (CAP) reform in the negotiations, and 
the welfare effects of agricultural trade 
liberalization on the poorest countries. 
Italian Minister of Agriculture Gianni 
Alemanno drew conclusions about the role of 
the EU's leadership in agricultural reform 
given the global emphasis on reductions of 
support for farmers. According to Alemanno, 
the decoupling of farm payments approved in 
the recent CAP reform gave the EU the moral 
high ground in the negotiation.  He also said 
that the formulas for reduction of domestic 
support and tariffs are finally based on 
"fair criteria", meaning posing lower threats 
to support for Mediterranean products. 
Alemanno also said that the framework 
agreement includes a specific timing (May and 
July 2005) for work on Geographic Indications 
to be completed by technical bodies and the 
Council General. 
Ministry of Agriculture's Under Secretary 
Paolo Scarpa Bonazza Buora, who attended the 
Geneva Agriculture Talks on behalf of the 
Italian Ministry of Agriculture, commented 
that the agreement is a good result and that 
the EU Commission should not go beyond the 
mandate agreed with the EU Council. Scarpa 
argued that in light of the Geneva agreement 
Italy should reaffirm its opposition to the 
proposal of reform of the EU sugar regime 
advanced by the Commission. 
 
FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 
 
3.  Cutting tariffs and reducing domestic 
support where they are more trade distorting 
is generally accepted by farmers' 
organizations leadership in Italy. 
Paradoxically, all farmers' organizations 
oppose the recently proposed reform of the EU 
sugar regime and suggest to wait for further 
developments of the Doha Round.  According to 
Italian farm leadership, the EU needs to do 
very little to comply with the WTO framework 
agreement thanks to the EU's recent Common 
Agricultural Policy reform. Confagricoltura 
criticized the EU Commission again for 
pushing for the approval of CAP reform before 
the WTO framework agreement was in place. 
Confagricoltura argues that a later reform 
would have been a better negotiation strategy 
for the EU.  All the farmers' organizations 
identify safeguarding of Geographic 
Indications (GI) as a sine qua non for 
negotiating an agreement before the 
Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in 
December 2005. GIs are mentioned under the 
"other issues" paragraph in the Agricultural 
annex to the framework agreement. 
 
4.  Farmer Organization Coldiretti supports 
the idea of re-proposing the shortlist of 41 
European Geographic Indications, 14 of which 
are Italian.  The farmer organization 
Coldiretti not only wants geographic 
indications to be taken up by the WTO, they 
insist that the EU submit again the list of 
41 products the EU-15 agreed upon prior to 
the September 2003 WTO summit in Cancun. None 
of the Italian farmer organizations considers 
TRIPS the proper venue for the discussion. 
 
MEDIA 
 
 
5.  The Agricultural press commented warmly 
and without a great deal of emphasis on the 
Geneva agreement. The majority of press 
articles published in Italian agricultural 
magazines summarize the agreement and report 
interviewed opinion leaders for impressions, 
not analysis. 
 
 
OTHER REACTION 
 
6. The SlowFood movement's leader Carlo 
Petrini welcomed the framework agreement but 
warned that "there is a risk of subsequent 
negotiations being disrupted by competing 
interests of WTO member countries." According 
to Petrini, a further agricultural trade 
liberalization would be beneficial to EU and 
Italian Farmers as they would be "forced to 
shift" from commodity farming to production 
of specialties.  Comment: 
Mr. Petrini does not speak knowledgeably 
about negotiations or about agriculture. 
Italy's commodity crops include corn and 
rice. Italy is the EU's largest rice 
producer, and the EU-15's second largest corn 
producer. Virtually no one from the flat, 
fertile Po River Valley would abandon corn 
farming for cheese making because the 
vocation of that land is adapted to growing 
grain. End comment. 
 
Other NGOs close to the "no-global" movement 
strongly oppose the agreement and called for 
interruption of the Doha Development Agenda. 
 
 
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 2004ROME03125 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED