Agriculture Ministers of European Union countries are meeting on Monday 15 April in Luxembourg to discuss proposals on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that relate to environmental climate measures. They will take stock of the situation on some agricultural markets.
Chaired by Romanian Minister Petre Daea, the Agriculture Council will have a working lunch discussion on the impact on the livestock sector of large carnivores (such as wolves) and other species.
Ministers will also discuss the recent report from the Task Force working party on rural Africa.
‘Green architecture’. Several EU Agriculture Ministers are to call for greater flexibility in the implementation of the proposed 'green architecture' provisions of the post-2020 CAP (enhanced conditionality, new environmental programmes and agri-environmental measures), as shown by debates being held at expert level (see EUROPE 12231/13, 12222/22).
Several delegations (France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and more) welcomed the Commission's intention to strengthen environmental ambitions within the CAP. Several of them, such as Poland and Ireland, however, stressed the importance of aligning this environmental ambition with the future CAP budget; the Commission expects agricultural appropriations to fall during the European Union’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021–2027.
Rural Africa. The Council will hold an exchange of views on the recommendations of the working party for Rural Africa, in the presence of Tom Arnold, Chairman of the working party (see EUROPE 12209/7). The results of the exchange of views will feed into the EU Council's preparations for the 3rd African-EU Ministerial Union Conference on Agriculture, scheduled for 21 June 2019 in Rome.
Agricultural markets. The Commission will take stock of the market situation (sugar, pork and beef) as well as emergency measures related to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU (see EUROPE 12231/11). The EU Council's latest discussion on the main agricultural markets took place in November 2018.
Forests, renewable energies and research. Three 'miscellaneous items' will be submitted to the EU Council.
The Netherlands, who is Chair of the Amsterdam Declarations Partnership (based on the Amsterdam Declaration signed by Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Norway), will invite the European Commission to present an ambitious EU Action Plan on Deforestation and Forest Degradation. The Commission will be publishing later this year a Communication on stepping up EU Action against Deforestation and Forest Degradation.
The EU Council will take note of information from the Slovak delegation on a joint declaration signed by the Ministers of Agriculture of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia on the Renewable Energy Directive post-2020. The declaration suggests that one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in transport is to use biofuels, especially when they are produced from domestic sources. This production is linked to primary agricultural production.
Finally, the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council will present the results of the high level Conference on Agricultural Research, which took place in Bucharest on 5 April. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)