Romania supported, within the AgriFish Council, the keeping of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) structured on two pillars and the allocation of a consistent budget, which would allow the continuation of the production of quality food, the Minister of Agriculture, Florin Barbu, announced on Tuesday.
"I requested within the AgriFish Council, that the Common Agricultural Policy be kept, structured on two pillars and benefit from a consistent budget, which would ensure the continuation of the production of quality, sufficient food, at affordable prices. We cannot accept a reduction in the budget compared to the current period, under the conditions in which the requirements for our farmers are increasing. We cannot agree with the disappearance of Pillar 2 of the Common Agricultural Policy. The increasingly high standards that we require of farmers must be compensated accordingly", Barbu wrote on his Facebook account.
He stressed that he had requested the suspension of the application of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) for fertilizers and the extension of this suspension to all types of fertilizers used in agriculture.
"We requested, together with Austria, the suspension of the application of the CBAM for fertilizers and the extension of this suspension to all types of fertilizers used in agriculture, not just for ammonia and urea, given the significant increase in production costs and the loss of competitiveness of European farmers. Our farmers cannot be put in the position of paying the cost of the green transition alone. The increase in fertilizer prices, generated by the application of the CBAM, directly affects the competitiveness of European agriculture and, implicitly, food safety. Romania supports a balanced approach: environmental protection must go hand in hand with the protection of farmers and the maintenance of production capacity in the European Union", the agriculture minister pointed out.
Romania, together with Italy and Slovakia, has also asked the European Commission to draw up an extraordinary European support plan for the dairy sector, in order to adequately manage the systemic crises facing this sector. "It is absolutely normal to respond to the challenges our farmers are facing with financial compensation measures for limiting production volumes, with financial support measures for storing dairy products, as well as with real support for promoting the quality products they obtain", Florin Barbu also wrote on social media.
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