European agriculture and fisheries ministers will meet in Brussels on Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 September, under the chairmanship of Martin Heydon, Irish minister for agriculture, to discuss the post-2027 common agricultural policy (CAP) and the state of agricultural markets. Agricultural topics will be addressed on Monday, while fisheries-related issues will be covered on Tuesday (see EUROPE 13946/3).
The ministers will take stock of progress on the regulation concerning the CAP post-2027 in order to provide new political guidance on outstanding issues. The Irish Presidency of the EU Council intends to continue discussions at technical level (Working Party on 30 September and 1 October) and within the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA), with the aim of reaching a partial general approach at the Agriculture Council on 26 and 27 October.
Transitional national aid. Romania, with the support of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, will ask for the transitional national aid granted to Member States that joined the EU from 2004 onwards to be maintained beyond 2027 (see EUROPE 13945/8).
While technical discussions within the EU Council regarding the revision of the common market organisation (CMO) regulation are progressing towards establishing political guidance, several sensitive issues remain unresolved. Among these is the issue of sectoral programmes, particularly in the fruit and vegetables sector. Under ‘Any other business’, Belgium will call for preserving the CMO for fruit and vegetables after 2027 (https://aeur.eu/f/nlp ).
Fertilisers. Over lunch, the ministers will hold a debate on the fertiliser action plan launched urgently by the European Commission in May. European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen indicated, on the sidelines of the informal Agriculture Council meeting in Dublin in early September, that this support plan could provide broader benefits to sectors affected by drought.
Agricultural markets. The issue of blocked maritime traffic in the Black Sea is expected to be addressed in the presence of Ukraine’s minister for agrarian policy and food, Taras Vysotskyi. Ukraine could soon run out of storage capacity for products such as cereals if it fails to resume exports at a faster pace.
Falling producer prices and rising input costs, particularly in the context of the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz and the implementation of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), are also expected to be on the agenda.
Finally, the meeting will cover the consequences of the heatwaves that have impacted agricultural production in several Member States in western and central Europe. Four delegations (Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria and Croatia) will raise the effects of the drought under ‘Any other business’. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)