Agri-Fisherie Council: F2F, CAP and Market situation for the return to Brussels

Posted on - Posted by Farm Europe

The AGRI-FISH Council meeting was the first physical meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council since January 2020 and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The session was chaired by Julia Klöckner, the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture of Germany, who has presented the Work programme of the German Council Presidency.

Nota bene: The Agriculture and Fisheries Council took place before the conclusion made by the EU heads of state & government on the deal on the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) & the post-pandemic stimulus package for the EU-27.

The Minister has underlined that their main aim will be to have a proper coordinated response to the challenges rising from the COVID-19 crisis for a sustainable economic recovery and social cohesion. The German Council Presidency also wishes to make sure that by October 2020 they can have a general approach in the Council for the CAP.

(For details regarding the German Council Presidency’s program and priorities, see email of 17 July: “ComAgri & ComEnvi 15-16 June – Exchange of views on the priorities of the German Presidency “).   

The agenda of the meeting first went on with an exchange of views on the Farm to Fork Strategy and then on the post 2020 CAP reform package (9463/20), where the debate focused on the green architecture of the CAP. Regarding the F2F and the debate on the green architecture of the future CAP, the Presidency put forward both times three questions to the Member States’ Ministers.

During the debate in the latter discussion, the Czech delegation informed the Council on a joint declaration by the Visegrad Group plus Bulgaria and Romania on the Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in the light of the European Green Deal, the “Farm to Fork” and “Biodiversity” Strategies and the COVID-19 pandemic (9591/20). They stressed the need for a properly funded CAP and wished to adopt the Reform as quickly as possible to make a case for a sufficiently long transitional period of at least two years.

Finally, the European Commission has presented and held an exchange of views on a report on the market situation in the main agricultural sectors amid to COVID-19 crisis (9599/20).

 

full note available on FE Members’ area