Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Maria Panayiotou underlined on Monday the importance the Cyprus EU Presidency attaches to ‘equipping the European agricultural sector with the tools needed in order to remain sustainable and competitive.’
Speaking ahead of the first Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AgriFish) in Brussels, where she will present to her counterparts the objectives of the work programme of the Cyprus EU Presidency, Panayiotou said ‘we are taking this on at a time of real challenges for Europe, for its citizens, for our farmers. But we are committed to work hard in order to build solutions, in order to find solutions, in order to have positive and tangible outcomes for our farmers.’
According to the Minister, both the programme of the Agricultural Policy Working Party and the Cyprus Presidency’s work programme were presented on Monday. ‘Our target is clear. We want to contribute to a Europe that is more autonomous, more competitive, more resilient, a Europe that is open to the world. And of course, agriculture is at the real heart of this target, of this ambition,’ she said.
The three topics highlighted by Panayiotou and included on Monday’s agenda were the bioeconomy strategy, the amendment of the regulations on organic farming, and the launching of the task force on import controls. ‘All topics are important, all topics contribute to the sustainability of the agricultural sector. It’s going to be a long council, a long first AGRIFISH Council, but I’m confident it will be a productive council. And as I’ve said, we are ready to work together with the Member States, with all institutions, in order to build solutions together,’ she added.
Asked about a possible negative ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU following the European Parliament’s decision to refer the EU-Mercosur Agreement, and whether this referral could hinder the implementation of the Cyprus Presidency’s programme in terms of climate and negotiations, the Minister replied that ‘the Council has decided on the provisional agreement. We have followed the procedures. What was important for the agricultural ministers, what was important and what is important for the primary sector is the safeguard measures and all the topics that we have discussed during the very productive meeting we had on the 7th of January.’
She added that discussions on these key issues would continue and underlined that ‘today’s discussion on the launching of the Task Force on Imports Controls is very important.’ Panayiotou stressed that this development would in no way affect the implementation of the Cyprus Presidency’s programme. ‘The Cypriot Presidency from the beginning, from the first moment, has declared that it will work as an honest mediator with all the institutions. And we will continue to do so regardless of this development’ she said. Moreover, the Minister reiterated that the Council of the EU would continue to advance discussions regardless of developments on the EU-Mercosur Agreement, ‘because regardless of the developments of Mercosur, there are issues that are directly related to the competitiveness, to the viability of the primary sector and especially of the farmers and our farmers. And this is a priority for us.’
Asked about the differing approaches among Member States regarding the proposal for the post-2027 CAP and how the Cyprus EU Presidency intends to respond to these different demands, the Minister said ‘we’re trying to find a balance. Our job is to make sure that we have a strong CAP, a strong CAP that will help the farmers address the challenges that they are facing. We have a long discussion ahead. As we’ve said a lot of times, this is a marathon.’ She concluded by noting that the ultimate goal is ‘a strong CAP and a CAP that helps the farmers to continue producing.’