During the Agriculture Council on Tuesday 14 May in Brussels, the Belgian and Polish delegations discussed the difficulties faced by their fruit producers, in particular those harvesting apples and pears.
The Agriculture Ministers of these two countries, supported in particular by their counterparts from France, Italy, Slovenia, Greece and Hungary, reported very low prices on the apple and pear market. Belgium and Poland have invited the Commission to make additional resources available to the fruit sector and to support European apple and pear producers through intervention measures as soon as possible.
Germany, on the other hand, objected to any market intervention measures.
The new post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should provide tools to react quickly in the event of a market crisis, the French Minister of Agriculture stated.
The European Commission has indicated that it will continue to monitor the market situation and is in contact with the Member States concerned to find a solution to the problem. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)