Romania has closed 10 agriculture and fisheries files while in office as holder of the Presidency at the Council of the European Union and has taken important steps toward the legislation of the Common Agricultural Policy, Romania's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Petre Daea said on Tuesday at the end of a meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Luxembourg.
"It has been a huge responsibility for me to lead the council's meetings in the first half of 2019. With the technical teams of the member states, in a continuous, responsible and necessary work, we have taken important steps in legislating the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy. Today, at the end of the Romanian tenure, there is an encouraging outcome, which is reflected in 10 closed agriculture and fisheries files. All the work I carried out was subordinated to the legitimate interests of European Union farmers, who had been expecting and kept expecting new decisions from us, that they can easily use in the concrete work of these food makers in Europe and beyond," Daea told a news conference.
He said he had a challenging Presidency and extremely dynamic in terms of the EU fisheries legislation.
Adding up to these results, he said, is the passage of the partial general approach to the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, with both Romania and the other member states arguing that the regulation under discussion on Tuesday is essential to the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy.
At the council meeting, a progress report on the Common Agricultural Policy was presented, and Romania, together with other member states' experts effectively worked on the texts put forth by the European Commission, "bringing them as close as possible to the needs of all member states."
Daea said the progress made by the Romanian Presidency will serve as a major support for the Finnish Presidency.
In the end, he thanked all delegations, ministers and teams for their support in making these progresses.
"I want to point out that the results are both of the Presidency, of the Council in its entirety, of all those who were part of the working teams during this period. I would particularly want to thank Commissioner Phil Hogan and the European Commission for their continuous support and absolute commitment to the development of the sector," the minister concluded.
