At the EU forum since January this year. Discussions on the shape of the Common Agricultural Policy after 2027 are ongoing, for now they are in the public consultation phase. The Ministry of Agriculture is preparing a draft of Poland’s position on this matter – Deputy Minister of Agriculture Jacek Czerniak informed the Sejm on Wednesday.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Jacek Czerniak was present on Wednesday at the meeting of the Parliament subcommittee for monitoring the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union and the accession of new countries to the European Union, with particular emphasis on Ukraine. He said that the EC invited entities representing various areas of the agricultural and food system (including farmers, cooperatives, agricultural enterprises and rural communities), as well as non-governmental organizations and representatives of civil society, financial institutions and academia, to the dialogue. Government institutions were not invited, he added.
Prospects for farmers and rural communities
As Czerniak said, the exchange of views concerns prospects for farmers and rural communities, support for agriculture that respects the environment, the use of knowledge and innovation in agriculture, and the creation of a clear perspective for the development of the European food system.
In parallel, in December 2023, the Commission on Agriculture of the European Commission launched a series of technical workshops for Member States, experts and stakeholders on topics related to the future agricultural policy and policy towards rural areas, including: on the resilience of agriculture to crises and food security.
The conclusions from these discussions are to be used to develop conclusions by the Belgian Presidency by the middle of this year. These, in turn, are to be a core element of the next programming period and will be included in the future Commission communication on the review of EU agricultural policy. It may appear at the turn of September and October, depending on the progress made, according to information from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Poland: agriculture is a strategic sector of the EU
Poland’s position on the draft Belgian conclusions includes, among others: the need for the European Commission to recognize agriculture as a strategic EU sector, which requires ensuring strong financing from various EU policies and funds, in particular from the Common Agricultural Policy, the budget of which should correspond to the ambitions of the objectives. which are planned for it after 2027.
Poland believes that the conclusions should take into account the problem of ensuring equal conditions of competition for imported products, especially due to production standards and norms; the impact of EU enlargement to include additional countries – Ukraine and Moldova – should be analyzed; it is necessary to stabilize agricultural income through, for example, direct payments – Czerniak enumerated.
Trade liberalization with Ukraine?
He informed that the Ministry of Agriculture is preparing a draft of Poland’s position on the future agricultural policy in the event of trade liberalization with Ukraine and the country’s invitation to accession negotiations. Poland wants to draw attention to, among others: on the threats posed by Ukraine to European agriculture, as well as on the need to provide sufficiently high funds in the EU budget to implement various ambitious goals, e.g. environmental ones.
During the subcommittee meeting, MEPs pointed out that EU enlargement to Ukraine would be a big challenge due to the completely different structure of Ukrainian agriculture (both the size of farms and the ownership structure), which is not compatible with the existing instruments of the Common Agricultural Policy.
