Generally speaking, on Monday 17 May, agricultural experts from EU member states welcomed the progress made in negotiations with the European Parliament over the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The Portuguese Presidency of the Council presented a working document (non-paper) on social conditionality in the CAP, obtained by EUROPE (https://bit.ly/3hAwlNb ), which is close to what the Parliament is calling for. The European Commission has also presented a paper on this topic (https://bit.ly/3ovsvGS ).
The three EU institutions hope to reach a final agreement on the CAP by the end of May. The ‘super trilogue’ dealing with the three regulations of the CAP reform package will take place on 25-26 May, running parallel with an EU Agriculture Council held on 26-27 May (see EUROPE 12719/5).
At Monday’s Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA), delegations discussed the regulation relating to strategic plans, including the ‘green architecture’ and the targeting of direct payments. Delegations welcomed the efforts made by the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council to reach a compromise with the European Parliament, but there are still differences in opinion over a number of issues (capping of aid, eco-regimes) that will have to be addressed in the ‘super trilogue’.
Social dimension. The SCA also discussed the social dimension, which is a key priority of the European Parliament on which the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council has prepared a working document. Overall, it was reported that delegations were broadly supportive of the document, although they did express some concerns and requested time to talk to the relevant government departments at Member State level. Once again, the need to simplify and avoid additional administrative burdens was emphasised.
Markets. In relation to the regulation on the Common Market Organisation (CMO), the Portuguese Presidency informed the delegations of the results of the trilogue that was held on 12 May. The experts were mostly in favour of the compromises reached during the trilogue, with some notable exceptions that will then be discussed during the ‘super trilogue’. The next trilogue on the CMO regulation is scheduled to take place on 21 May.
The Farm to Fork strategy. The Agriculture Ministers of the Visegrad Group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) as well as Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, will present a joint statement at the next EU Council meeting (https://bit.ly/3yhKoxb ) on the opportunities and challenges of agricultural holdings in light of the ‘Farm to Fork’ Strategy. To achieve the ambitious targets, “appropriate measures” are needed, according to these countries. They are calling on the Commission to publish an in-depth study of the impact of the strategy on food security, competitiveness, and prices of agricultural products. They are emphasising the fact that targets for reducing the use of fertilisers, pesticides and antibiotics should be set at a European level in order to take account of the different starting points in different countries. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)