EU Agriculture Council to decide on fishing opportunities and discuss future agricultural policy
The EU ministers of agriculture will meet in Brussels on 11-12 December 2017 to decide on fishing opportunities in the north-east Atlantic and North Sea regions for 2018. Also on the agenda is the European Commission Communication on the future Common Agricultural Policy. The Finnish representative at the meeting is State Secretary Jari Partanen.
The Agriculture and Fisheries Council will decide on fishing opportunities in the north-east Atlantic and North Sea regions for 2018. The matters to be discussed include the Commission proposal to prohibit commercial fishing of eel in the marine waters of the Union, including in the Baltic Sea.
Also on the agenda is the Commission Communication of 29 November on the future Common Agricultural Policy. The Communication sets out the Commission’s basic ideas of how the CAP should be reformed. From the Finnish perspective the general objectives of the reform described in the Communication are appropriate and relevant. The opportunities of the Member States to decide on the content, monitoring, control and sanctions relating to the agricultural support schemes they are applying would be considerably increased.
Finland supports the Commission’s idea of giving more powers to the Member States in the design of the support schemes. The Common Agricultural Policy should continue to be market-driven, but sufficient compensation should be paid for adverse circumstances such as a shorter growing period and the consequent higher costs to make sure that agricultural activities continue in all regions. Finland considers securing a high standard of food safety and animal welfare, giving due account for environmental protection, and climate change mitigation and adaptation as appropriate approaches with regard to the future of European agriculture.
Inquiries at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry:
Kari Valonen, Head of EU Coordination and International Affairs, tel. +358 295 162 269
email: firstname.lastname(at)mmm.fi