Portuguese presidency to handle agriculture ‘with eyes on the future’
The Portuguese presidency of the EU Council is committed to doing everything to conclude negotiations on the reform of the EU’s massive farming subsidies programme without overlooking the transition toward a more sustainable food system, the Portuguese farm minister told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview.
Maria do Céu Antunes is the Portuguese agriculture minister and will chair the Agrifish EU Council until 30 June. She spoke to EURACTIV’s agrifood editor Gerardo Fortuna.
In a nutshell, what are the main priorities of the Portuguese presidency when it comes to agriculture?
With the motto ‘Time to deliver: for a just, green and digital recovery’, the Portuguese presidency intends to contribute to the European recovery, highlighting its activities in three central priorities, namely a fairer, greener and more digital Europe.
In what agriculture is concerned, our priorities converge on the ‘greener’ Europe pillar: to promote the recovery and structural strengthening of the European agri-food system, as well as the digitalisation of the sector. But also ensuring the sustainability of the rural world through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, the action plan for the development of EU organic production, the continuity of the Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy, and the long term vision for the rural world.
The outgoing German presidency is leaving you the tough task of the CAP reform. Will you work for having an agreement within your presidency?
In the next six months, we will be committed to the conclusion of the CAP negotiations, started by the German presidency, that is currently going on between the Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament materialised in three regulations: on the strategic plans, the horizontal regulation and the regulation about the common organization of agricultural markets. This is a fundamental goal: to ensure the agricultural sector’s resilience and a transition to a greener architecture, with more revenue to farmers and fair prices to consumers.
