Informal Meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers
La Hulpe - On 19, 20 and 21 September the Informal Meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers was held under the Belgian presidency. Sabine Laruelle, federal Minister of Agriculture, Benoît Lutgen, Walloon Minister of Agriculture and Kris Peeters, Flemish Minister of Agriculture, welcomed their European counterparts for three days to discuss the Future of the Common Agricultural Policy post 2013.
This meeting also provided an opportunity to present a sample of Belgian know-how in agricultural matters.
Traditionally, during the Informal Meeting of Agriculture, a number of agro-food and agricultural enterprises are visited. The visits of Sunday 19 September allowed the Ministers and their delegation to discover the farm-Abbey of Argenton, the qualities of the Belgian Blue and the Faculty of Agronomy of Gembloux (University of Liège), a biotechnology research centre recognised at the European level. Afterwards a few local products were tasted. On Monday, the Ministers visited two enterprises in Flanders: Mechelse Veilingen and Wolkenhoeve in Geel. Mechelse Veilingen is the most important vegetable auction in Europe and represents a good example in terms of innovation and production techniques in Belgian horticulture. As far as Wolkenhoeve is concerned, it showed that social activities on a farm do not hinder profitability.
On Tuesday, the Informal Agriculture Meeting was organised around the debate entitled “Choose today for a strong CAP tomorrow”. During this meeting, the Ministers addressed two questions: “Which role should be given to the first pillar of the CAP (aid to farmers and measures for the organisation of markets)” and “How to make the CAP sufficiently flexible to take the specificities of the different agricultural regions into account and to respond to crises”. Here, the Belgian Presidency here introduced a new method in the form of working group discussions. The three working groups were chaired by Sabine Laruelle, Benoît Lutgen and Kris Peeters.
In conclusion, from this Informal Meeting we will remember that there is a broad consensus within the EU to maintain a strong Common Agricultural Policy but also to improve the communication about it to farmers and citizens. The Ministers also expressed their opposition to re-nationalise the first pillar and their strong will to provide safety nets that can compensate price changes faced by farmers.
The reports of the various working groups, presented by the Belgian Ministers, were validated by representatives from the 27 and will allow European Commissioner for Agriculture, Dacian Ciolos, to prepare the orientation note on the CAP 2014 - 2020 which he will present in November 2010.
