Agriculture and Fisheries Council, 17-18/12/2018, 17-18 December 2018

Main results

2019 catch limits in the Atlantic and North Sea

After all-night negotiations, the Council reached agreement on 2019 catch limits for the 89 main commercial fish stocks in the area.

As of 1 January 2019 we finally say goodbye to the wasteful practice of discarding fish. This is a milestone for the reformed Common Fisheries Policy, but also a challenge for our fishermen in basins like the Atlantic and North Sea. I am glad to say that today's agreement takes this challenge fully into account and provides good solutions which address the socio-economic and environmental sustainability of EU fisheries. Elisabeth Köstinger, Austrian Federal Minister for Sustainability and Tourism and President of the Council

As a result of this Council decision, the number of fish stocks managed at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) levels will increase next year to 59. The agreement also foresees solutions for the critical state of European eel.

The agreement will apply as from 1 January 2019.

• Council agreement on 2019 fishing quotas in the Atlantic and North Sea (press release, 18-19/12/2018)
• Fishing opportunities: TACs and quotas (background information)

Post 2020 Common Agricultural Policy reform package

In public session the Council discussed a presidency progress report  on the work carried out in the Council on all the Commission proposals of the CAP reform package, which includes regulations on CAP strategic plans, financing, management and monitoring of the CAP, and the common organisation of agricultural products.

The Austrian presidency has worked hard to complete a first analysis of the CAP reform proposals. Today we gave our work the finishing touch, and are glad to leave our successors with a clear picture of where the Council stands, so that they can keep up the momentum and achieve as much progress as possible during the next 6 months. We wish them good luck. Elisabeth Köstinger, Austrian Federal Minister for Sustainability and Tourism and President of the Council

• Future of the CAP post 2020 (background information)

EU bioeconomy strategy

In public session the Council exchanged views on the role that agriculture and forestry can play in the updated EU Bioeconomy Strategy. In their interventions ministers focused in particular on how to unleash the potential of bioeconomy, boost economic growth and employment in rural areas, and create opportunities for primary producers.

Bioeconomy comprises those parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources from land and sea to produce value-added products such as food, feed, materials and energy.

• Updated EU Bioeconomy Strategy

Other topics on the agenda

Ministers were informed about

• the follow-to the fipronil incident of the summer of 2017
• amended rules on direct payments and rural development in 2019-2020
• recent forest damages in Europe
• the situation on the pigmeat market and
• the outcome of a series of conferences on: "BIOEAST: Bioeconomy in the forefront of national policies", "The role of Parliaments in shaping the future of food and farming", and "The development of Plant Proteins in the European Union – Opportunities and Challenges".