Estonia keeps up sugar battle with EU

(TALLINN) - Estonia said on Thursday it would contest a European Union court ruling which did not slash a 34-million-euro (50-million-dollar) fine imposed by Brussels for stockpiling sugar.

Estonian foreign ministry spokeswoman Mariann Sudakov told AFP that the Baltic state was unhappy with a European Court of Justice decision in October and would appeal by the December 15 deadline.

"We disagree with the European Commission about the size of the sugar surplus counted when levying the fine and wish the fine to be lowered," Sudakov explained. The penalty is worth around 26 euros per person in this country of 1.3 million.

Estonia has been wrangling for years over sugar with the Commission -- the EU's Brussels-based executive -- which originally had sought a 55-million-euro fine, before cutting the sum to 46 million euros and then reducing it again to 34 million euros.

The battle is over stocks built up before Estonia joined the EU in 2004 along with seven other ex-communist countries.

The Commission had watched the sugar market closely to prevent firms from stocking up and selling subsidised sugar imported from the EU before enlargement.

It ruled that an excess 91,464 tonnes of sugar had been accumulated in Estonia, allegedly by companies and individuals aiming to take advantage of higher prices once EU sugar-market regulations came into force in the country after it joined the bloc.

Estonia first turned to the Court of Justice in 2005, arguing that a large part of the surplus sugar had been bought up by private individuals to make jam and syrup, a common practice in the country. Estonia said that only 49,092 tonnes should be subjected to a penalty.

But Brussels said EU rules made clear that it was not possible to separate the amount of sugar meant for private consumption from the amount destined for commercial use. Estonia continues to dispute that.