The German Presidency, under the guidance of the Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture, Julia Kloeckner, submitted two important CAP issues for discussion – green architecture in agriculture and a new model for the incorporation of the post-2020 agricultural policy.

Minister Ardanowski highlighted that while there was no denying the importance of a sustainable approach to agricultural production, appropriate support should be provided for greater environmental ambitions.

“We consider the most effective and essential ways of meeting environmental and climate requirements to be the Pillar II measures: environmental and climate measures, farm modernisation, and consultancy. Eco-schemes should only supplement the Pillar II environmental measures. Therefore we are against setting a limit on expenditure on eco-schemes in Pillar I,” the Minister said. He also stated that such a limit does not guarantee a better focus on the environment, but it may entail a risk of losing unused funds. Moreover, it complicates the implementation of this measure.

Poland still believes that small farms should be excluded from the conditionality control system, as they are now.

Both the EU Member States and the Presidency maintain their willingness to reach a consensus regarding the general approach to the legal framework of the CAP in October this year, so that the Council can start negotiations with the European Parliament.

A group of 15 states, including Poland, have submitted a declaration on the need  to expand the scale of cultivation of plant proteins in the EU for discussion. As part of the CAP reform, it has been requested that production-related support for legumes be adjusted and the list of eligible crops be extended.

Minister Ardanowski said that Poland has repeatedly requested an increase in protein production, including GMO-free production in Europe, and therefore supports the common position expressed by France, that support should be provided for protein crop production under the future Common Agricultural Policy.

“The plant protein production development programme is an effective means of approaching many environmental and climate challenges facing European agriculture, identified in the Farm to Fork Strategy and Biodiversity Strategy,” the Head of the Polish Ministry of Agriculture said.

As regards trade-related agricultural issues, the EC has provided information on current issues in international trade in agricultural products. Commissioner Wojciechowski stressed that the COVID-19 pandemic had disrupted world trade, but that food security had never been at risk, and that after initial difficulties, international trade had been preserved as part of the G20 and WTO mechanisms.

Minister Ardanowski stressed that local production should be increased and supply chains shortened.

“A balance needs to be struck between these two aspects. Moreover, there is a need to ensure that products imported into the EU meet the same standards as those imposed on EU producers,” Ardanowski said.

The agriculture ministers of other EU Member States at the AGRIFISH meeting concurred.

“With regard to the possible implications of Brexit for EU trade in agricultural goods, we are concerned to learn that the Commission is inclined to relinquish the option for the EU to use the WTO tariff rate quotas for UK market access, even if no agreement is reached in bilateral free trade agreement negotiations,”  Minister Ardanowski said.

The Minister pointed out that such a scenario (no free trade agreement with the UK and no access to the UK’s WTO quotas) would mean that the EU Member States would have worse conditions for access to the UK market than third countries that do have the right to export their products to the UK market using the WTO quotas. This issue is particularly relevant to the ability to access the UK market for agricultural commodities with potentially high tariff rates, such as meat and meat products, dairy products, sugar and confectionery.

At the request of the Czech and German delegations, the ministers discussed the situation on the pork market, following the outbreak of ASF in wild boar in Germany.

“African swine fever has been causing problems on the pork market for several years, resulting in significant economic losses in the EU Member States. I have raised this subject many times at Council meetings,” Minister Ardanowski repeated.

The head of the Polish Ministry of Agriculture pointed out that the European Commission must be more active in talks with the for protein European Union’s main trading partners, such as China, Japan and South Korea, so that in the case of animal diseases they would accept European solutions for regionalisation.

Poland has been affected by export restrictions for several years due to the presence of ASF in some parts of the country. The recent ASF cases diagnosed in several wild boar in Germany, are not helping the situation.

“I regret every case of ASF in successive European countries, but only when we recognise that this is a common disease for the whole of the EU, and that the whole community must take responsibility for combating it and for its economic consequences, do we have any prospects of reaching a turning point in eradicating it,” Minister Ardanowski stressed.

“I wish to make it clear that limiting the spread of ASF remains a priority measure for Poland,” Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski said.

The widening incidence of ASF within the EU, as well as the accompanying impediments to trade in pork with third countries, are causing the situation to deteriorate for EU pig producers.

“Poland has repeatedly drawn attention to the deteriorating and challenging situation on the pork market, and that is why I call for support to be provided for this sector urgently,” said the Polish Minister.

During a break in the session, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Poland and the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment of the Republic of Cyprus on cooperation in the field of agriculture and rural development was signed.

The Memorandum was signed by Minister Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski for Poland and Minister Costas Kadis for Cyprus.

The Memorandum envisages broad cooperation in the areas of science and technology in the field of agriculture and rural development, as well as closer bilateral cooperation between Poland and Cyprus in this field.

A joint working group is to be established in order to develop long-term cooperation programmes in agriculture and carry out bilateral projects in agriculture and rural areas.