At the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 13 May, EU Member State delegations discussed draft conclusions on the future of EU agriculture, including initial responses on the challenges ahead.
The draft text, prepared by the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council, will be the subject of comments from Member States before the SCA meeting on 21 May. An updated project will then be discussed.
The project under review notes that some of the concerns expressed by farmers are linked to the medium and long term and that it is therefore necessary to consider responses from this perspective.
The text recognises the role of farmers in food security and self-sufficiency, and recalls in particular the recent conclusions of the European Council on addressing the anger of EU farmers.
The project addresses a number of issues, such as ensuring a strong and competitive sector (including strengthening the position of farmers in the food supply chain), research and innovation, the need for simplification, young farmers and environmental aspects.
The conclusions, which are expected to be adopted by the EU ‘Agriculture’ Council on 24-25 June in Luxembourg, call on the next European Commission to take these conclusions into account when drawing up its future work programme.
At the SCA meeting, delegations welcomed overall the draft conclusions and their general objectives. Delegations made the following points: the importance of rural areas and their vitality should be emphasised in the text; profitability and competitiveness could be given greater prominence; the references to enlargement in the draft were welcomed; the important role of agriculture in strategic autonomy was stressed; several delegations wanted the need for adequate and fair funding for farmers to be mentioned in the text.
This text focuses on the future of agriculture. The forthcoming Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council is said to be focussed on getting the EU ‘Agriculture’ Council to adopt conclusions on the future of the CAP.
In addition, the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council prepared a note, dated 14 May, with a view to the debate at the Agriculture Council on 27 May on the future of crisis management in EU agriculture.
To see the note from the Belgian Presidency: https://aeur.eu/f/c6y (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)