Planas meets with the Belgian and Hungarian agriculture ministers to prepare for the EU presidency until the end of 2024

The aim was to prepare for the presidency of the Council of the EU between 1 July this year and 31 December 2024, a year and a half in which the three countries will hold the presidency in succession.

The trio of presidencies is a working method created in the 2009 Lisbon Treaty whereby the three states holding the rotating presidency in an 18-month period draw up a common agenda with the themes and main issues to be addressed by the council during that period. Spain will hold the EU presidency in the second half of this year, followed by Belgium in the first half of 2024 and Hungary in the second half of 2024.

Food security and market monitoring of the war in Ukraine, priorities of the trio of presidencies

The Spanish minister stressed that there are two fundamental issues on the common agenda: food security and monitoring the evolution of markets as a result of the war in Ukraine, and issues such as the drought, which affects Europe as a whole.

Luis Planas reiterated that the open European autonomous strategy will be one of the elements that Spain will defend most consistently during its presidency, because it is fundamental for guaranteeing food supply and because it also defines the EU's relations with third countries.

The three ministers agreed that ensuring food safety and the protection of health and the environment will be a major objective of the EU for its trio presidency.

The minister mentioned other issues that are among Spain's priorities for the presidency during the second half of 2023, including the application of new technologies to make agriculture more resilient to climate change, which will be the main theme of the Informal Council of Ministers to be held in Cordoba in September.

In terms of dossiers to be processed, and which in some cases will remain on the table for the next six months, he pointed out the revision of legislation on animal welfare, the regulation on protected Geographical Indications, the sustainable use of phytosanitary products, and the rules on product labelling and marketing.

In the area of fisheries, he highlighted the contribution of the Common Fisheries Policy to food security, the decarbonisation of the fleet and the need to invest in the renewal of vessels to make them safer, more comfortable and sustainable, an issue which will be the focus of the Informal Meeting in Vigo in July. He also referred to the Total Allowable Catches and quota setting on a multi-annual basis for the species for which this is possible, as opposed to the annual basis that is currently the case, to favour the programming and stability of the activity, with the aim of modernising the decision-making process.

Non official translation