European Union: Presidency work programme

The Presidency gave a public presentation on its work programme in the agriculture and fisheries
sectors.

The agricultural policy priorities will include:

• The common agricultural policy (CAP) reform package by:
  • Identifying key elements for a compromise on the four main regulations (direct payments, rural development, single common market organisation (CMO) and financing the CAP);
  • Organising focussed debates on thematic issues such as innovation, greening or simplification;
  • Seeking agreement with the European Parliament on the proposals concerning transitional measures for the direct payments and the wine sector.
• The alignment of the agricultural legislation to Lisbon-Treaty, for which the Presidencyhope to reach an agreement with the European Parliament;
• A presentation and orientation debate on the amendment of financing the CAP in relation to transparency and a Commission communication on the promotion of agricultural products;
• Research and innovation in the agricultural sector (Commission conference on 7/03/2012).

As regards food and veterinary issues the Presidency intends to work on:

• Ensuring and improving the existing high food safety standards and adequate informationto consumers by:
  • Reaching agreement with the European Parliament on the proposal on food intended for infants and young children and on food for special medical purposes;
  • Prioritizing organic production and confidence with organic products;
  • Working on the Commission package on food quality for reaching and agreement with the European Parliament;
• Focussing on antimicrobial resistance and on the use of antimicrobials in both human and veterinary medicine (Presidency conference on 14-15/03/2012 - Copenhagen);
• Working on the modernisation of the official meat control systems towards a risk assessment based approach (Presidency conference on 2-3/02/2012 - Copenhagen);
• Making a priority of animal welfare and health by:
  • working on the EU strategy for animal welfare (Presidency and Commission conference on 29/02-1/03/2012 - Brussels);
  • seeking to reach consensus on Council conclusions on the protection of animals during transport.