Luxembourg, 27/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - Martijn van Dam, the Dutch minister chairing the Agriculture Council, said in Luxembourg on Monday 27 June that progress had been made over the last few weeks on the issue of organic farming and that the Slovakian Presidency would pick up the baton with the aim of coming to agreement relatively speedily.
He said at a press conference that, in the seven trialogue meetings chaired by the Dutch, compromises had been reached between negotiators on the major points in the text, such as imports, monitoring and unauthorised substances. The biggest problem remains the structure of the regulation (addition of technical annexes amended or not by delegated acts). “We are close to agreement with the European Parliament but we're not there yet. The Slovakian Presidency will now continue negotiations with a view to conclusion in the coming months”, said van Dam. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)