Agriculture and Fisheries Council, 15/02/2016, 15 February 2016

Main results

The Presidency presented its work programme and priorities in the areas of agriculture and fisheries. The main priority is the future of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).

Martijn van Dam, Dutch Minister for Agriculture and the President of the Council: "The central theme of our informal council meeting in May will be 'Food of the future - the future of food'. We will focus on the CAP after 2020. In the next 30 years the world population will grow to 9 or maybe 10 billion people. Everyone will need food and energy that must be produced in a way our earth and nature can cope with it. We must improve our food production, not only here but also worldwide. And we need more innovation, more sustainability.”

Several members expressed their concerns and made clear the market situation in dairy and pig meat sectors are worrying and need to improve urgently. We heard interesting views on how to move forward. Today's debate will be the base for the formal discussion on this very topic on the March council meeting. On that occasion we will assess the market measures currently in place, and decide what would be an appropriate approach.” Martijn van Dam, Dutch Minister for Agriculture and the President of the Council

Agriculture

During the council Ministers took stock of the agricultural market situation in particular on current difficulties in the milk and pig sectors.

Martijn van Dam: “Several members expressed their concerns and made clear the market situation in dairy and pig meat sectors are worrying and need to improve urgently. We heard interesting views on how to move forward. Today's debate will be the base for the formal discussion on this very topic on the March council meeting. On that occasion we will assess the market measures currently in place, and decide what would be an appropriate approach.”

The Council held a debate on animal welfare on the basis of a position paper prepared by the German, Swedish, Danish and Netherlands delegations. The paper calls for an EU platform on animal welfare to be established for stakeholders and competent authorities. The council broadly supported the establishment of an EU-platform. Some member states noted that, given the current high level of EU standards for animal welfare, equal treatment should be ensured for EU and non-EU producers, and that priority should be given to improving the enforcement of existing legislation.

Ministers were also briefed by the Commission on the state of play of international agricultural trade issues and the development of a long term strategy for agricultural research.

Fisheries

A proposal on the sustainable management of external fishing fleets was presented to the Council. The purpose of the text is to modernise the management of authorisations granted both to EU vessels to fish outside EU waters, and to third country fishing vessels to operate in EU waters. Member states supported the contribution the proposal could make in combatting illegal fisheries. However, several member states expressed concerns regarding the administrative burden the proposal might entail.