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Agriculture Minister Daea to participate in Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Luxembourg.
Agriculture Minister Petre Daea will participate on Tuesday in the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Luxembourg, where topics of great interest for Romanian agricultural producers will be discussed, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) informs in a press release sent to AGERPRES.
Thus, the discussions will focus on topics such as: the situation of agricultural markets following the invasion of Ukraine, the strategic plans of the Common Agricultural Policy, the opportunities of the bioeconomy in the context of current challenges, carbon agriculture, told Agerpres.
According to the source, on the basis of information provided by the Commission and the member states, the Council will take stock of the situation of the agri-food market in the EU, with a focus on the impact of the war in Ukraine.
Following communications from the Commission, ministers will hold a policy debate on the agricultural and forestry aspects of the proposal for a regulation on carbon offset certification.
The Council will also seek to adopt conclusions on the opportunities offered by the bioeconomy in the context of current challenges, with a particular focus on rural areas.
During the meeting, European officials will exchange views on the current state of play of member states' strategic plans under the Common Agricultural Policy for the period 2023-2027.
The agricultural sector in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary has been hit in recent months by an increase in imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, for which the EU has removed customs duties in a bid to support Kiev in the context of the Russian invasion. However, some of the products from Ukraine remain in the five countries at prices considerably lower than those offered by local producers, instead of ending up in other EU member states or non-EU bloc countries.
In this context, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary have recently announced temporary bans on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products on the grounds that they destabilise prices on their domestic markets and harm local farmers.
The European Commission has already expressed its opposition to unilateral bans, given that international trade is an exclusive EU competence.
To address this, the EU executive has put forward three proposals, including a EUR 100 million aid package for Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary. This money would be in addition to the EUR 56.3 million that Brussels has already approved for Poland, Bulgaria and Romania.
The European Commission has also talked about possible "preventive measures" on wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine. These measures, which would be in place by the end of June, would allow Ukrainian imports to enter Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia only if they are in transit through these countries for export to other member states or non-EU bloc countries.
Brussels stressed, however, that its package of initiatives depends on the lifting of unilateral measures adopted by Ukraine's neighbours.
On April 21, at the end of a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Mikola Solski, the Romanian Agriculture Minister said that Romania was showing solidarity with farmers in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia, but that the rules must be made jointly.
