Rotating EU presidency Portugal presented ‘a package of proposals’ at the end of last week to speed up the trilogue negotiations on a new EU agricultural policy.
At the last trilogue on 10 March, Portuguese Agriculture Minister Maria do Céu Antunes referred to the new performance model for direct payments, she told Euractiv. She did not want to go into further detail.
Antunes rejected the idea that insurmountable difficulties had arisen during the negotiations. However, she pointed out that ‘social conditionality’ was not part of the European Commission’s original 2018 proposal. Moreover, that is beyond this year’s mandate, she said.
Through ‘social conditionality’, NGOs and trade unions are advocating to include various treaties on social rights also within agricultural policy. This would mean that laws on minimum wage would also apply to hired seasonal workers.
Antunes said her proposal to convene a super-trilogue was warmly welcomed by Norbert Lins, chair of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee, and by EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski. The EP agriculture committee COMAGRI is discussing the progress of the trilogue today and tomorrow.
How the 27 agriculture ministers view the Portuguese ‘package’ and the invitation for the ‘super-trilogue’ will become clear next week at the EU Agriculture Council on 22 March. Formally, the COMAGRI committee, the European Commission, and the agriculture ministers have not yet responded.
Portugal remains optimistic that an agreement on the new CAP policy can be reached soon. In a speech on the weekly EURACTIV Agrifood podcast, Antunes reiterated her commitment to delivering the CAP reform this semester.