Joost Korte, Deputy Director General at the European Commission, outlined the key challenges ahead for the EU agriculture and food sector and explained how important the on-going changes, driven by President Jean-Claude Juncker, are. These changes relate to the structure of the new Commission, its working methods and priorities . Under the lead of Vice-president Timmermans, each Commissioner is instructed to undertake a critical assessment of policies and to ask the question as to whether such policies are absolutely essential at European level. Further, before any new major initiative, a consultation process and analysis phase has to be undertaken before a proposal could formally be adopted by the Commission, this takes up to 42 months. As such the Juncker Commission has defined the European Union’s key priorities with three key words – growth, jobs and investments. Continue reading “Key points of Joost Korte’s introductory comments at Farm Europe’s launch debate” →