Trade in the agriculture sector, and forestry, are among the items up for discussion at the first meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council of 2024.
The council comprises agriculture ministers in the Council of the EU (also known as the Council of Ministers).
The meeting is also the first agriculture ministers council meeting of the Belgian presidency of the EU. Belgium holds the rolling six-month presidency of the Council of the EU until the end of June.
The Belgian presidency will give a presentation on its work programme for the coming semester in the field of agriculture and fisheries.
Ministers will also discuss trade-related agricultural issues on the basis of information provided by the European Commission.
The meeting will feature a “policy dialogue on the future of agriculture in Europe”.
Based on information from the commission, which will be represented at the meeting by the executive vice-president of the commission for the European Green Deal, Maroš Šefčovič, the council will hold a public discussion on the strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture in Europe, which was launched by the commission.
The strategic dialogue was announced in September by commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
On forestry, the council will hold its first exchange of views on the proposed regulation on a monitoring framework for “resilient European forests”.
In November, the commission launched a Forest Monitoring Law that environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius described as “another valuable element to consolidate the Green Deal”.
The aim of the law, according to the commission, is to create a comprehensive forest knowledge base, address information gaps, and enable better response to growing pressures on forests.
‘Other business’ items that are set to feature during the meeting include:
- Sanctions on Russia-imported agricultural products;
- Implementation of the Area Monitoring System;
- Recovered Nitrogen from Manure (RENURE) chemical fertilisers;
- The role of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in safeguarding high-quality food production;
- The Habitats Directive and large carnivore populations;
- Water resilience initiative.