Brussels, 25/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - French Agriculture Minister Stéphane Le Foll confirmed on Thursday 21 July that he had invited his EU counterparts to meet in France on 1-2 September to discuss the common agricultural policy (CAP) after 2020, that year marking the end of the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework (EUROPE 11581).
France's goal is to also to re-affirm, in the wake of the referendum leading to the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union, “the structural importance of the CAP in European construction”, states a press release from the French Agriculture Ministry.
The basis for the debate on the future of the agricultural policy will be provided by the French document on the post-2020 CAP distributed at the informal Agriculture Council in Amsterdam on 31 May of this year (EUROPE 11562). France offered, inter alia, suggestions for improving the rules on the greening of aid and for addressing the many difficulties facing farmers (plant and animal health, climate and economic crises). France proposes that a proportion of direct aid should be put into a contingency fund for use, if necessary, in managing crises. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)