Petre Daea, Romania's Minister of Agriculture, said on Wednesday 23 January in Brussels that he will try to make progress on the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (see EUROPE 12165).
The Minister confirmed, before the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, that the dossier of a future CAP was the number one priority of the Romanian Presidency of the Council during this six-month period. The Romanian Presidency hopes to lead the Council, if possible, to a 'partial general approach' on 18 June on the proposals amending the CAP rules (see EUROPE 12161).
“I have heard a lot of concerns about the CAP”, Petre Daea said after the MEPs' interventions. He stressed that he would work to “advance this process” and stressed the need to simplify the CAP and to have more subsidiarity. “It is not a question of renationalising the CAP”, he warned. “There has been very little time and that is why we must join forces to try to make progress on this issue”, summarised the Romanian Minister of Agriculture.
Albert Dess (EPP, Germany) said he thought it would be impossible to reach a compromise between institutions on the CAP dossier under this mandate. “Quality must prevail over speed”, he said. Other members also pointed out that it would be very difficult to complete this dossier in three months.
Other topics on the agenda during the semester will be the bio-economy: “More research and synergies between policies are needed and food waste must be tackled”, said the Romanian Minister of Agriculture. The Romanian Presidency is planning a ministerial debate on Monday 28 January on the European Commission's report on the development of plant proteins in the EU (see EUROPE 12143). The Romanian minister also mentioned forest management and animal health, such as animal transport (including by boat), the continued control of African swine fever and biosecurity measures. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)