On Tuesday March 26, Armands Krauze, the Minister for Agriculture, in Brussels, participated in the meeting of the EU Council of Ministers for Agriculture and Fishery, where the Ministers discussed solutions to quickly and effectively respond to the current crisis in the sector of agriculture. Farmers in Latvia and other EU Member States have been operating for a long time now in very complicated economic conditions due to economic turmoil and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Just as several conditions of the EU Commons Agricultural Policy (CAP) have disruptive effects on agricultural activity and they must be amended.
Latvia appreciates and supports the proposal from the European Commission (EC) to amend Regulation on Strategy Plans. The proposal offers several essential solutions, which were suggested by representatives of Latvia and other States. Both during formal and informal negotiations as well as in intensive discussions we succeeded in convicing EC of their reasonableness to urgently achieve adoption of the necessary EC decisions.
The EC proposal envisages to exemt small rural holdings with the area less than 10 ha from checks and fines, associated with the condition to comply with requirements of the system. It is envisaged to amend CAP Strategy Plans at least twice a year thus ensuring EU Member States more flexibility and ability to adjust aid measures according to current situation and necessity.
However, although the urgent EU-level actions have started, to improve the situation in agriculture, in Latvia’s opinion the offered changes are not enough and the present problems are not addressed fully. Farmers are shouldering ever higher basic requirements in the area of the environment and climate without covering implementation expenses and losses incurred. Therefore, the Minister for Agriculture, in discussions suggested contituing CAP simplification, revising other essential policy elements.
Armands Krauze, the Minister for Agriculture: “The major one of current problems, farmers are facing now, is unpredictability of the Common Agricultural Policy as it can be supplemented with new requirements, derived from legal acts, adopted in areas of other policies. For example, the EU new legal acts, adopted in the area of environment and climate, are becoming more and more ambitious. In Latvia’s opinion, the newly adopted conditions must not impact negatively other already existing policy conditions and objectives. It is veryimportant to ensure in future predictability of the existing policy and consistency among policies. Uncertainty regarding future of agricultural policy and stability in the present programming period make planning of farmers’ work and basic actvity – provide food for society – difficult.”
Whereas, in the discussion on market situation, EC informed of its proposal to incrrease tariffs for certain agricultural products from Russia and Belorus. The Minister reminded that Latvia was the first of the EU Membe States, asking to adopt urgently restrictive measure for imports to EU of such products. Therefore, Latvia appreciates that in the result of intensive work, the EC heard request from Latvia and other like-minded States and made a step in the right direction, adopting the EU-level decision.