At the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels on 22 and 23 March, EU agriculture ministers held intensive discussions on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. The preparation of the new Common Agricultural Policy, starting in 2023, has reached a crucial stage. The Hungarian government will continue to do its utmost, to provide a stable framework for the Hungarian agriculture and for the Hungarian farmers.
The European Commission proposed a legal framework for the new EU Common Agricultural Policy in June 2018. After two and a half years of negotiations, the Council and the European Parliament adopted their respective positions in October 2020. On this basis, trilogues have begun between the EU institutions.
Hungary has main three expectations of the new Common Agricultural Policy: a sufficiently ambitious budget, appropriate policy instruments and practicable, user-friendly rules. The first objective has been met, as the recently adopted seven-year EU financial framework provides an adequate amount of resources for the agricultural sector. Now we are concentrating all our efforts on the availability of policy instruments that ensure the competitiveness of Hungarian farmers, in a way in which they can also contribute to the preservation of the values of our created world - the Hungarian Minister, István Nagy added.
It is just as important to be able to develop the Hungarian CAP strategic plan along simple rules, which can be also implemented in practice. During the planning, it is essential to be able to determine our priorities related to the new Common Agricultural Policy, on the basis of our national specificities, explained the Minister.
Portugal, which holds the Presidency of the Council, has the explicit aim of reaching a political agreement with the European Parliament by the end of May, on all three regulations for the CAP reform.
The Hungarian government strongly supports the aspirations of the Portuguese presidency, as it is time to put an end to the negotiations, which have been going on for three years. Even in the final stages of the negotiations, we are firmly committed to the protection of sustainable Hungarian agriculture, which means a secure livelihood for farmers - concluded the head of the Ministry of Agriculture.
