Daea: We closed 11 files in agriculture, fishery; most important for Romania - unfair commercial practices

Romania has closed 11 files in the field of agriculture, rural development and fisheries in the six months in which it held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, compared to four as originally proposed, and the most important file for the country was the one on unfair commercial practices, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Petre Daea told AGERPRES. "The EU Council Presidency has been a real success in the field that I am coordinating: agriculture, rural development and fisheries. We have 11 files closed compared to four as we initially planned, and we have also advanced very much in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), in respect to the three regulations that covered the Strategic Plan, Financing, Management and Monitoring, and the Common Market Organization. The last two regulations are nearing the end, and the Strategic Plan has been linked to the Multi-Annual Financial Framework. This report also added the partial general approach on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, a very important thing for Romania, but also for other countries due to the interest in aquaculture. Here we have made important steps for the intensity of up to 70pct, which means a great advantage in the perspective of 2021-2027," explained Petre Daea. He specified that out of the 11 closed files, the most important for Romania is the file regulating the unfair commercial practices, a file that "catches the major interest of the country". As regards the funds that Romania will receive in the new financial year, the Minister of Agriculture said he is confident that there will be significant amounts, even if the budget has not been yet approved and the support per unit area will increase. "What we know for sure is that convergence will increase and also the support per unit area. I do not know what the sum will be, because we do not have the budget yet, but we are expecting a bigger amount. The debate we had at the AgriFish Council meeting was for a larger or at least equal budget with the current budget, given that there are a whole range of environmental ambitions that financially challenge the farmer," said Minister Daea. Asked if the CAP budget will be approved by the end of the year, Daea said, "Definitely yes." Romania has held numerous internal and external events during the Presidency, with only the chronology of these together representing 219 pages. As the sums spent for organizing the events within the Romanian Presidency, the Minister of Agriculture stated that "a lot of soul was spent". "First of all, a great deal of soul has been spent and it was worth it for Romania. I believe that Romania is differently perceived now, in the light of the results in agriculture and of what our guests have seen in the country, but also of what we have done in terms of presidency. I want to destroy this myth that only the specialists in Brussels did this. It's not true. We had a 24-hour service here at the ministry that was day and night connected with the service officers, hundreds of people from the ministry were involved in this. The Romanian team was made up in the country of 260 ministry specialists and agencies subordinated to technical files, 240 persons involved in the organization and monitoring of the events during the presidency and 14 permanent representatives in Brussels. This is the human resource with whom I have worked, who directly got involved in technical files. All the information, everything that was done under the Presidency is under lock and key, sealed in a safe and enter the institutional memory and anyone can consult it and we can answer any questions. Practically, the work done by everyone can be seen," the Agriculture Minister said. According to the cited source, the foreign delegates present in Romania at the events organized on the occasion of the Presidency were accompanied by 28 young students, dressed in a Romanian folk costume, speaking in the language of the EU member states. Daea also said that at the end of the term he was offered congratulations on how the events have been organised, by both his EU counterparts and "particularly and permanently" by European Commission representatives and Commissioner Phil Hogan, in acknowledgement of the "quality of the work done in the six months of term". According to the stocktaking data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), of the 11 files closed by Romania, 4 were on Agriculture and 7 on Fisheries, to which adds the work done on the international fisheries agreements (Gambia, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal, Seychelles). Regulations and Directives for the 7 fisheries files have been published in the Official Journal of the EU. Some of the most difficult files were the three regulations of the Common Agricultural Policy reform (for which a progress report was adopted) and the Regulation on fisheries technical measures - which was finalized by trialogue, and the Regulation on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The approved Agriculture files are: 'Unfair trading practices', 'Spirit Drinks Regulation', 'General Food Law', 'Regulation amending Regulations (EU) No. 1305/2013 and (EU) No. 1307/2013 as regards certain rules on direct payments and support for rural development in respect of the years 2019 and 2020'. The approved Fisheries files are: 'Regulation on a a multiannual recovery plan for Mediterranean swordfish stocks', 'Regulation on certain provisions for fishing in the GFCM (General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean) Agreement area', 'Regulation laying down conservation and control measures applicable in the Regulatory Area of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) Regulatory Area', 'Regulation on technical measures in fisheries', 'Regulation on the management plan in the Western Mediterranean', 'Brexit preparedness - Amendment of the EMFF Financial Regulation', 'Brexit preparedness - Amendment of the regulation on external fishing fleets'. On the occasion of the vote on the future Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union cast in the AGRI Committee of the European Parliament, Romania managed to obtain the voluntary capping of agriculture subsidies, a solution that protects the interests of both large and small and medium-sized farmers. This way, action in this regard is left in the hands of member states. The approval of a progressive convergence that benefits Romania as a result of the increase of the per hectare subsidy has also been obtained. As part of the CAP reform package, the Council discussed a progress report by the Presidency on the Council's work on all the Commission's proposals in the respective reform package, which includes regulations on CAP strategic plans; CAP funding, management and monitoring; and the common organization of the markets in agricultural products. "The majority of delegations welcomed the report as a fair picture of the state of play of discussions, and praised the progress achieved under the Romanian Presidency. Several delegations also considered that reaching an agreement on the Post-2020 CAP was linked to an agreement on the future budget and multiannual financial framework. The Commission's proposals for a 365 billion euro worth of CAP reform introduce a new delivery model by which member states will have more flexibility in how to use their funds and will be able to tailor-make their programmes," reads the document. A single set of 9 EU-wide economic, environmental and social objectives will be identified at EU level and each member state will have to draw up a Strategic Plan covering the whole programming period, using both direct payments and rural development. Last but not least, direct payments will be conditional on enhanced environmental and climate requirements, and the new CAP will better target small and young farmers, thereby facilitating generational renewal, and will try and foster greater use of knowledge and innovation. The Council also reached a partial general approach on the Commission's proposal for the next European Maritime and Fisheries Fund that is part of the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027 and is worth 6.14 billion euro. "The proposal aims at supporting the achievement of the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) including aquaculture, and the implementation of the Union's maritime policy, as well as strengthening the Union's international commitments regarding ocean governance, notably, in the context of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable Development," reads the MADR document. The Council adopted a set of conclusions on biosecurity, emphasizing the latter's key role in addressing current threats, such as African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease. During its term at the Presidency of the Council of the EU, Romania organized 13 external events as follows: 5 AgriFish Council meetings (in Brussels and Luxembourg) and the reception on the occasion of the takeover of the rotating Presidency of the EU Council; 3 meetings with the European Parliament's ENVI, PECH and AGRI Committees; 4 international conferences (Berlin, Rome, Brussels); and a Trio Presidency meeting. Also, 10 internal events have also been organized: an informal AgriFish Council meeting and 9 thematic conferences, plus 304 working group meetings. As many as 542 foreign delegates participated in the events organized in Romania. AGERPRES (RO - author: Mariana Nica, editor: Andreea Marinescu; EN - authors: Bogdan Gabaroi, Simona Klodnischi; editors: Simona Iacob, Adina Panaitescu)