04/09/2017 (Agence Europe) – In a press release published on Monday 4 September, a day before the informal agriculture Ministers’ meeting, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) issued a warning to member states that wanted to increase the crisis reserve in the context of an agricultural policy budget that is under pressure. CoR President, Karl-Heinz Lambertz (PES, Belgium), said that better regulation of the agricultural markets would be more effective than having to make an intervention at a subsequent stage. The CoR would also like rules on international trade to be amended, which are cause of much of the price volatility in this sector. Guillaume Cros (France, PES), CoR rapporteur for the opinion on Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, therefore stated that they needed to stop exports that were being made at a loss and better protect European production against International competition. (PH)