On Tuesday 30 May, a large number of EU agriculture ministers called for aid to be provided to farmers who are suffering from the effects of the droughts and floods that have hit many regions.
On behalf of the Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese delegations (https://aeur.eu/f/73e ), the Portuguese minister, Maria do Céu Antunes, spoke of the effects of the recent droughts in southern Europe.
She called on the European Commission to use the tools available under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to remedy the situation: mobilise funds under the agricultural crisis reserve, introduce a risk management system for farms, derogations and flexibilities in terms of implementing the CAP and raise the level of advance rates to at least 70% in the case of direct payments (and at least 85% for rural development aid).
Luis Planas, the Spanish minister, mentioned the lack of grazing for livestock, the fact that it was impossible to harvest certain winter crops and plant spring crops, as well as a reduction in irrigation. He is of the opinion that the agricultural crisis reserve needs to be mobilised.
Marc Fesneau, the French minister, has called for emergency solutions to be implemented (advances from the CAP and a crisis reserve).
Italy has asked for support instruments to be activated for farmers (livestock farming in particular) and for aid to be provided via the CAP’s strategic plans.
Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania and Poland have also requested support. Greece and Cyprus supported the demands made by the other southern European countries.
“The Commission has heard your call for help”, said Janusz Wojciechowski, European Commissioner for Agriculture. He promised that he would present a proposal on mobilising the crisis reserve (€250 million remains for 2023) and on increasing the amount of advances (direct payments).
Frozen products. Croatia made reference to current practices related to the marketing of frozen products (https://aeur.eu/f/73f ). The Croatian delegation believes that binding rules should apply to all products placed on the common EU market and has invited the European Commission to examine a recent proposal from the Croatian Parliament regarding the need to regulate the shelf life of frozen meat at EU level.
Slovenia has also supported Croatia’s request, as did Cyprus, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania, Greece, Spain and Hungary.
Belgium, on the other hand, felt that the rules currently in place were sufficient. According to France and Ireland, there “is no justification” for standardising conservation criteria.
“As things stand, we should continue to gather data and debate this issue before harmonising the shelf life of frozen products of animal origin”, replied the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)