EU agriculture ministers will be meeting in Brussels on Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 September, with Jacob Jensen as Chair, to discuss the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its financing for the 2028-2034 period.
On Monday 15 September, the experts on the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) stressed the need to maintain a separate and independent CAP, structured around two pillars. The Commissioner for Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, is expected to point out that the budget proposal for 2028-2034 is a minimum, which Member States can supplement by mobilising funds from their national and regional partnership plans, as well as resources from the European Competitiveness Fund and Horizon Europe. Debates on the future CAP at the Agriculture Council are scheduled for October, November and December.
Trade. Although they do not take decisions in this area, agriculture ministers will be holding a debate on trade-related agricultural issues on Tuesday. The Commission recently launched the ratification procedure for the trade agreements with Mercosur and Mexico, concluded negotiations with the United States, and plans to finalise its talks with India by the end of 2025.
During the SCA meeting, a number of delegations expressed their concerns, particularly regarding the agreement with Mercosur, in terms of triggering safeguard measures and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) controls.
Slovakia is expected to raise the issue of the revision of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement announced on 30 June (https://aeur.eu/f/iiz ). Bratislava considers that this agreement constitutes a unilateral concession in favour of Ukrainian exports, to the detriment of its own producers. It will be arguing for the creation of a special fund to compensate EU farmers for losses caused by excessive imports from Ukraine.
To prepare for the debates, an EU Council note dated 17 September, consulted by Agence Europe, specifies, with regard to the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, that the Commission accompanied its proposals with a commitment to supplement the agreement with a legal act that operationalises the running of the bilateral safeguards chapter agreed in the framework of the EU-Mercosur partnership, “in order to protect the EU’s most crucial and sensitive agricultural sectors” (see EUROPE 13708/15, 13701/1, 13701/2).
According to the same note, the Commission also commits to examine the situation in the event of a surge of imports or a decrease in prices concentrated in one or more Member States, or when such a situation affects a sector in which EU producers are predominantly established in a limited number of countries.
The note also points out that China’s imposition of an additional customs duty of between 15.6% and 62.4% on European pork products from 10 September 2025 is deemed “unacceptable” by the EU, as these measures are based on questionable allegations and insufficient evidence.
‘Miscellaneous items’. Thirteen Member States (including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Italy) will once again ask (https://aeur.eu/f/ij2 ) the Commission to review the N+2 rule for interventions by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) in CAP strategic plans, with a view to reverting to the N+3 rule applied under the previous programming period.
Germany will be asking for further details on the water resilience strategy presented in early June (https://aeur.eu/f/ij0 ). Estonia, affected by resurgence of African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks, will be requesting financial support from the EU for its livestock farmers. Finally, Germany is expected to raise the issue of basic substances for plant protection. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)