EU countries’ agriculture ministers will meet in Luxembourg on Monday, 29 April, to take stock of measures aiming to help farmers overcome the current crisis as far as simplifying rules and strengthening their position in the food supply chain are concerned.
Based on information provided by the Belgian Presidency of the Council and the European Commission, agriculture ministers will discuss measures that have been proposed or taken to date in order to simplify the rules of the common agricultural policy (CAP) as well as actions to be taken so as to strengthen farmers’ position in the food supply chain. Following the green light given by MEPs on Wednesday, 24 April, the Council of the EU is expected to adopt the measures aimed at simplifying certain rules on aid cross-compliance on 13 May (see EUROPE 13398/19). “The crisis is not behind us; we need to follow up on the measures that have been announced”, a diplomatic source stressed on Thursday, 25 April.
In addition, the EU Council will hold an exchange of views on the annual performance reports presented by Member States to provide an overview of how the CAP is being implemented in their countries. This is the first such exercise carried out under the current CAP.
During their working lunch, agriculture ministers will discuss the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture, which was launched by the European Commission this past 25 January. Ministers will discuss ongoing work with Peter Strohschneider, the chair of this strategic dialogue.
Trade. Ministers will also talk about the state of trade negotiations with third countries, including Ukraine, on agricultural issues.
Among the ‘other business’ items on the agenda, Germany will put the topic of terms and conditions for de minimis aid on the table by calling for an increase up to €50,000. The threshold below which aid is considered to be de minimis in the agricultural sector is €20,000 over a period of three fiscal years.
The Austrian, Finnish, Slovenian, and Swedish delegations will stress the contributions of the bioeconomy.
Fisheries. Latvia and Lithuania will bring up the problems with implementing the provisions in Article 14 of the Fisheries Control Regulation concerning the permitted margin of tolerance in pelagic fishery.
See the document explaining their requests: https://aeur.eu/f/byj (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)