Despite the efforts of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, EU Agriculture Ministers are not expected to be able to reach a common position in June on the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) proposals, according to several sources.
Recent discussions, both in the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 20 May and at trilateral meetings (Member State experts, Romanian Presidency and Commission) from 22 to 24 May, have shown that several delegations, including those from large countries (including France and Spain), do not wish to conclude an agreement on the future CAP in June. This is due in particular to the lack of visibility on the CAP budget after 2020, which depends on the ongoing negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027.
In addition, at the SCA on Monday 20 May, several delegations (France, Spain, Netherlands, Greece, Hungary and Denmark) reportedly expressed scepticism about the objective of reaching an agreement in June.
A very busy schedule. However, the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU wishes to do everything in its power to bring the Agriculture Council of 18 June in Luxembourg to a partial general approach (without the budgetary elements). To achieve this, a very busy timetable has been set, in agreement with the European Commission.
First stage: trilateral meetings (with each of the Member States' delegations and the Commission) are organised from 22 to 24 May.
Then, at the meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on 27 May, Romania will present new draft compromises on the three tracks of the proposals (strategic plans, common market organisation and horizontal regulation). The next day, a working group will examine in more detail the text of the regulation on strategic plans and, the next day, the experts will try to define 'landing zones' on all the regulations. There will be a further meeting of the SCA on 3 June, on the margins of the informal Agriculture Council in Bucharest, to try to make progress towards a compromise. Work will continue on 11 June at the SCA. The Agriculture Council on 17 June will start with trilateral meetings with each of the Ministers and continue on 18 July, in the hope of reaching an agreement. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)