On the occasion of the Franco-German Council of Ministers on 22 January, the French and German ministers of agriculture, Marc Fesneau and Cem Özdemir, decided to work together on reducing the use and risk of pesticides.
The two countries committed to encouraging exchanges on alternative methods to pesticides and a working seminar on the subject is planned (see EUROPE 13093/6).
Other priority topics to be implemented in the coming years are: - promoting the harmonised labelling of agricultural and food products at European level in order to better inform consumers, increase transparency on the origin, composition and nutritional quality of foodstuffs and on production methods; - strengthening plant protein production in the EU; - forest management.
Fertilisers, pesticides, sustainable water use: France and Spain are aligning their positions. In addition, the French minister of agriculture and his Spanish counterpart (Luis Planas) adopted a joint declaration on 19 January at the end of a bilateral meeting in the context of the signing of the ‘Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation’ between the two countries.
They are committed to backing European initiatives in support of food security. They again call on the Commission to develop a “concrete roadmap to ensure the availability and accessibility of fertilisers”.
The two ministers also committed to working towards the conclusion of discussions on legislation on the sustainable use of pesticides when Spain assumes the rotating Presidency of the EU Council in July 2023. Joint work will be carried out on future legislative proposals of the European Commission, such as the nutrition labelling project and the revision of animal welfare legislation.
The joint declaration also refers to the need to establish a strategy for the sustainable water use in agricultural production. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)