A second proposal to create a new agency to promote European agri-food products globally is also under consideration, EU Farm Commissioner Dacian Cioloş said at an event in Brussels organised by grain trade association Coceral.
"We think of an instrument with a public or maybe a public and private contribution, with management at member state level or European level," Cioloş said of the insurance scheme proposal.
He said new instruments were needed to ensure a minimum income for farmers after the EU gave up many of its market management mechanisms, such as automatic intervention storage, which will be used only as a temporary "safety net" in future.
The details of the insurance scheme are still being worked out, but the European Commission should be ready to discuss its plans by the second half of this year, Cioloş said.
The Romanian farm commissioner will outline his ideas for reform of the bloc's annual €50 billion Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in a paper due in November, ahead of legislative proposals expected in July 2011.
Any insurance scheme must be managed at EU level to guarantee the equal treatment of farmers across Europe, the head of Coceral's markets section, Klaus Schumacher, told Cioloş.
"We know from experience what really could lead quickly to a problem of distortion of competition inside the community is if we leave such a system to the discretion of the member states," Schumacher said.
On promotion, Cioloş said he was "reflecting seriously" on the need for a specific EU agency with its own budget to promote European agri-food products globally.
"I think especially it's important to be more positively aggressive in the world market with our products" given the increased openness of EU agriculture to global commodity markets, Cioloş said.
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
