Brussels, 04/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - There will be close collaboration between the Greek Presidency of the Council (whose term begins in January) and the Italian Presidency, which begins on 1 July 2014. This collaboration will particularly focus on Mediterranean issues and was announced to the press on Tuesday 3 December in Brussels by the Greek minister for agriculture and fisheries, Athanaios Tsaftaris.
In the agricultural arena, the Greek Presidency's main priorities at this stage will focus on the issue of promoting agri-food products and approving the acts for implementing common agricultural policy (CAP) reform. The Greek minister also attaches a lot of importance to the Commission report that will soon be presented on the fruit and vegetable sector, as well as other dossiers, such as labels indicating the origins of meat products and animal and plant health.
On Tuesday, Tsaftaris met the chair of the EP's agriculture committee, Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy). They discussed proposals for promoting agricultural products (De Castro is disappointed by the planned financial envelope, despite it having been significantly increased) and by the acts for implementing CAP reform (according to De Castro, the Commission has overstepped the political agreement on certain points). (LC/transl.fl)