The EU yesterday agreed to reform its heavily subsidised sugar regime for the first time in 40 years, cutting prices by 36% over the next four years in a move that will end production in several countries and cost tens of thousands of jobs.
The deal, reached after three days of talks, was hailed by environment secretary Margaret Beckett, who chaired the negotiations, as showing that the EU was capable of genuine reform.
"This was a tough reform and there are no winners but only losers to varying degrees. The fact that the EU has shown that it is able and willing to grapple with a reform like that is a good signal to the Doha development round of trade talks," she told the Guardian.
The compromise package, which gives about €6bn (£4bn) to sugar growers and processors to quit the industry, was co-brokered by Mariann Fischer Boel, the agriculture commissioner, who said: "It shows we feel fit for the fight."
An overwhelming majority of the 25 farm ministers agreed to the deal after all-night negotiations which saw increased compensation for countries agreeing to give up more than half their subsidised quotas, and the price cuts, originally set at 39%, shaved to 36%.
The EU regime, which has annually dumped 6m tonnes of subsidised sugar on world markets, was ruled illegal by the World Trade Organisation. Ms Beckett admitted that several poor countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions would face severe problems from the price cuts. Non-governmental organisations denounced the deal as a "scandalous betrayal" of developing countries.
