The EU Agriculture Ministers will meet in Luxembourg on Monday 17 October to take stock of the situation of the agricultural markets, which have been shaken by the war in Ukraine triggered by Russia.
The agriculture ministers will discuss the situation of agricultural markets, including the issue of fertilisers.
Another note (not public) contains remarks from the Member States (https://aeur.eu/f/3ly ). Finland, France and Poland, among others, mention the problem of fertilisers. The European Commission is planning to adopt a Communication on this subject in the near future.
Belgium, supported by the Netherlands, Hungary, Spain and Portugal, will ask the Commission to make legislative proposals to allow ‘RENURE’ fertilisers to be used outside the limited amounts of livestock manure in vulnerable areas, taking into account their lower potential impact on the environment (https://aeur.eu/f/3m0 ). EU legislation restricts the use of this alternative in vulnerable areas, as it is considered to be of animal origin.
Plant proteins. Lithuania will ask Member States to turn to the availability of organic protein feed from Ukraine rather than using the derogations allowed by the Commission. A regulation of June 2022 allows Member States, where organic protein feed is not available, to derogate from the obligation to feed 100% organic protein feed to organic pigs and poultry. For Lithuania, favouring imports from Ukraine would help the Ukrainian economy and would be beneficial for organic production in the Member States (https://aeur.eu/f/3m1 ).
Trade. The agriculture ministers will discuss the conclusions of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, the assessment of the cumulative effects of the various trade agreements concluded by the EU with third countries, currently being ratified or negotiated (United Kingdom, Mercosur, New Zealand, Australia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Chile, etc.) and reciprocity measures.
Other topics. The French and German delegations (with the support of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg and Portugal) will again ask the Commission to include an EU-wide ban on the systematic killing of male chicks in the legislative proposals on animal welfare, scheduled for late 2023.
Some 20 Member States, led by Austria and Hungary, will urge the Commission to reallocate funds from the available EU budget for sanitary and phytosanitary measures. The Commission’s budget for this is exhausted (https://aeur.eu/f/3m2 ).
In addition, the agriculture ministers of the Visegrád Group (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary) as well as Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovenia will present a joint declaration on EU initiatives in the field of carbon farming. They call on the Commission to consider sources of funding other than from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget.
Finally, Austria and Finland (and others) will discuss the EU framework for forest monitoring. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)