István Nagy, the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture, who chaired the informal meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Budapest, on Tuesday 10 September, stressed the need to maintain a strong Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2027 to “ensure the development of European agriculture and guarantee food security”.
At this informal meeting, the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU launched discussions on the CAP post-2027, to help the European Commission prepare proposals for the EU’s next multiannual financial framework (MFF). Hungary will submit draft conclusions on the post-2027 CAP to EU agriculture ministers in October or November (see EUROPE 13477/3).
During the round table discussion, ministers welcomed a timely debate on the future of agriculture.
Several ministers stressed the importance of having a strong CAP, maintaining the current implementation model and guaranteeing a decent income and fair conditions for farmers.
Simplification and flexibility, less stringent ‘reporting’ requirements and a reduction in the administrative burden were also raised as important issues by several ministers.
According to István Nagy, ministers called for a simplified payment system. He stressed the need to simplify the strategic plans implementing the CAP, in particular to “facilitate their modification” if necessary (crisis, natural disaster, etc.).
European Green Deal. A balance needs to be struck between the various standards and rules and maintaining farmers’ competitiveness, said Mr Nagy. “Farmers are not the cause of natural disasters, but the victims”, he stressed. In the fight against climate change, farmers need support to protect themselves against disasters, according to the Hungarian minister.
In the context of the strategic dialogue on the future of EU agriculture, Norbert Totschnig, the Austrian minister, stated that it was important to have “continuity in the programmes” and to maintain CAP funds (increasing them, however, to take account of inflation). The Austrian minister called for a “health check” on the measures stemming from the ‘European Green Deal’, “to reduce bureaucracy”.
For France, more investment is needed for the ecological transition, and incentives are better than sanctions and overly restrictive rules.
The wolf. Norbert Totschnig called on EU environment ministers to launch discussions on the proposal to lower the protection status of the wolf, a proposal which he supports, as do several EU agriculture ministers (see EUROPE 13410/20). Finland and Sweden supported the Austrian request.
Richard Takáč, the Slovak minister, spoke of the major challenges ahead, “including in the context of Ukraine’s potential accession to the European Union, which would bring about a major change in agricultural activity across Europe and in the redistribution of subsidies”.
Value chain. The President of the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA), Peter Meedendorp, advocated “a balanced approach to the value chain, favouring decent conditions for farmers”. “The CAP must help to rebalance our position in the value chain by strengthening cooperation between farmers and improving market measures”, he argued.
Crisis management. Like a number of agriculture ministers, Peter Meedendorp supported the introduction of a “solid” crisis management framework to strengthen the resilience of the agricultural sector.
The majority of ministers called for risk prevention and management tools to be extended and for agricultural insurance to be strengthened, confirmed István Nagy.
Finland felt that the CAP strategic plans should include a “mandatory element” to develop crisis management tools at Member State level. A small part of the funds in the CAP’s national envelope could also be allocated to crisis management, according to this delegation.
Slovenia and Croatia proposed the introduction of an ad hoc crisis response mechanism as part of the strategic plans. This voluntary mechanism would enable Member States to act quickly and ease the burden on the agricultural reserve.
Austria and other countries, including France, considered insurance systems financed by the Member States to be important. The financing of the agricultural crisis reserve must continue to be covered by the EU budget and must not result in a reduction in direct payments, according to several delegations. Spain and others called for an increase in the reserve budget in the event of a crisis. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)