Portugal’s Minister of Agriculture, Maria do Céu Antunes, said in a virtual meeting with the press on Friday 8 January that she expected an agreement to be reached in April between EU institutions on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The minister set out the priorities of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU in terms of agriculture. Unsurprisingly, the negotiations on the three CAP regulations (strategic plans, markets and horizontal regulations) are the number one priority (see EUROPE 12628/14). The dossier will be on the agenda of meetings of the Agriculture Council on 25 January, 22 and 23 March, 26 and 27 April, and 31 May.
An exchange of views is also planned for March on the preparation of the national strategic plans for the CAP, while the European Commission presented its recommendations on this subject to the EU-27 at the end of December.
“We have four priorities”, summarised Maria do Céu Antunes: CAP reform; rural development; food security; digital ecological transition. She notably defended “a greener agriculture that contributes to our strategic autonomy” and the “fight against rural exodus and the abandonment of territories”.
Maria do Céu Antunes expects an agreement on the CAP to be reached in the spring and, if possible, in April. The new CAP will enter into force at the beginning of 2023, she said.
Other issues that are linked to the Farm to Fork strategy are expected to stimulate the debates: the action plan on organic production, the legal status of new plant breeding biotechnologies, and the revision of animal welfare legislation.
Portugal also promises to pay special attention to the EU’s future relations with the United Kingdom, as well as speed up the final stages of the ratification process of the EU/Mercosur agreement and move up a gear in the trade negotiations with New Zealand and Australia. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)