Brussels, 19/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - EU agriculture ministers are to meet in Luxembourg on Monday 22 April under the chairmanship of Simon Coveney of Ireland to take stock of talks underway on reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP). The Irish Presidency of the EU Council is doing everything it can to bring the institutions to an agreement on CAP reform by end June.
With the beginning of the “trilogues”, it has been possible to tackle more technical issues but has also provided an opportunity to cover a number of rather difficult political points, such as whether additional aid for young farmers should be compulsory or not, the export refund system, or competencies for price fixing, levies, aid and quantitative restrictions (see EUROPE 10829). In total, over 30 sessions of this kind are envisaged by end June.
The trilogues relate to the following four reform regulations: direct payments, single common market organisation (CMO), rural development and horizontal regulation.
Furthermore, under miscellaneous, the European Commission will present its proposal to ministers aimed at establishing a transitional scheme in 2014, in particular for direct payments (see EUROPE 10830). (LC/transl.jl)