PM Dancila, European Commissioner for Agriculture discuss CAP and floods

Prime Minister Viorica Dancila had a meeting with Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, on Tuesday, in the context of her working visit to Brussels, with the agenda of the discussions including the Common Agricultural Policy and the situation regarding swine fever and the floods Romania has been confronted with.

According to a government release, the prime minister and the European Commissioner have addressed priority issues of the European agenda, with emphasis on ongoing EU actions and the Common Agricultural Policy dimension.

Also, issues regarding the stage of preparations for Romania's Presidency of the EU Council, as of 1 January 2019, were addressed.

"Prime Minister Viorica Dancila showed that one of the major objectives of Romania, as future EU Council Presidency, will be to ensure that the EU's policies are constantly linked to the principle of cohesion as a common EU value. Romania will make every effort to advance the negotiation process and to adopt, in a timely manner, in line with the support of the other member states of the Union, the proposals regarding the Multi-Annual Financial Framework 2021-2027," the press release reads.

Prime Minister Dancila said that the Common Agricultural Policy "has demonstrated its added value, representing a real catalyst for the economic and social development of European rural areas, for the active and accelerated process of cohesion among regions and for the provision of safe food, of high quality and at affordable prices for European citizens."

"In this context, the Romanian Prime Minister stressed the need to adequately reflect the major role of this policy in the level of allocations for the Common Agricultural Policy in the future European budget. The Prime Minister of Romania also mentioned that the Bucharest Government supports the maintenance of the CAP budget at a level comparable to the one currently in force, noting that Romania appreciates the Commission's good intentions to simplify and increase subsidiarity in the implementation of the future Common Agricultural Policy, as well as the proposal to continue to reduce the gap between farmer direct payments in different member states. Dancila said that Romania does not agree with capping, which will seriously affect the most competitive farms in our country. The two officials also discussed the Commission's proposals on supporting small farms and young farmers in Romania," the release points out.

Viorica Dancila also underlined the importance of ensuring a simplified architecture of the future policy in the post-2020 time frame, allowing for an increased level of transparency, accessibility and efficiency in relation to direct beneficiaries.

"The Prime Minister appreciated the role that the European Commission will have in the European decision-making process regarding the proposals in the field of agriculture and expressed the interest and the openness of Romania to continue the cooperation with the Commission in order to identify together with the member states and the European Parliament the best solutions for European agriculture, for European farmers and, in essence, for European citizens as the main beneficiaries of Union policies," the source also says.

According to the press release, the head of the Executive also mentioned the current problems Romania is facing, namely the African swine fever and the floods affecting several counties.

"With regard to African swine fever, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development mentioned that this had started in Poland and that he considered ways to help our country. As far as floods are concerned, the Romanian Prime Minister and Commissioner Phil Hogan agreed that, next week, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Petre Daea, will discuss the aid that the European Commission can provide to our country. The effects of climate change on the agricultural sector as a whole will be analyzed, and, alongside the floods, the drought that affects other member states will be considered as well," the release said.

The Government also informs that the European official has accepted the invitation made by Prime Minister Dancila to pay a visit to Romania as soon as possible.

Attending the meeting was also Minister of European Funds Rovana Plumb. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Adina Panaitescu, editor: Rodica State)