Addressing the European Policy Centre on September 20th Commissioner
 Fischler argued that in the rice sector 'simply to sit and watch
 as the situation gets steadily worse would be to abdicate our responsibility
 to the EU's rice farmers'. In the current market situation the Commissioner
 argued that the Commission must act now to 'reduce the intervention
 price for rice to world market levels' with farmers receiving 'compensation
 equivalent to 88% of these cuts, including a crop specific subsidy
 to reflect the role of rice production in traditional wetlands'.
 This proposal was reiterated at the Agricultural Council meeting
 in October.