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- Ελληνικά
The Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries of Cyprus, France, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Greece, Croatia, Slovakia and Malta met in Brussels on 25 March and 29 April 2024, in their capacity as members of the Alliance of Nine Member States of the European Union (MED9).
The meetings were organised at the invitation of the Cypriot Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Dr Maria Panayiotou, in the framework of the Cyprus Presidency of MED9 for 2024. The two meetings addressed the common challenges and shared specificities of the Mediterranean climate that bind the nine member states in the agricultural sector and aimed to further coordinate MED9 members to enhance the promotion of their common positions.
The nine Ministers agreed on a joint communiqué, the issuance of which represents a strong message of unity and cooperation among MED9 member countries, strengthening the voice of these countries in finding ways to address common challenges in the agricultural sector, while also indicating their willingness of support and solidarity.
Based on the joint communiqué, the MED9 Ministers:
(a) Emphasize the need to further strengthen and promote crisis response measures by using unspent Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funds for the benefit of farmers and crisis response, but also to provide increased flexibility for Member States to use at least 2%, of their existing national envelope of their Strategic Plans for this purpose,
[B) URGE THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO PROCEED WITH FURTHER TARGETED ADJUSTMENTS TO THE CAP STRATEGIC PLANS, IN MEASURES TO FACILITATE THE EFFICIENT USE AND ABSORPTION OF ALL AVAILABLE FUNDS BY FARMERS;
[C) RECOGNISE THE NEED FOR ADDITIONAL ACTIONS TO REDUCE THE ADMINISTRATIVE BURDEN AND IMPROVE THE RESILIENCE OF THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE SPECIFICITIES AND CHALLENGES OF MEDITERRANEAN AGRICULTURE;
(d) call for the protection of sensitive EU and GI products to be a priority in future trade agreements of the European Commission with third countries;
[E] encourage the European Commission to proceed with the necessary measures to effectively adapt instruments within and beyond the CAP and to ensure the sustainability and resilience of the agricultural sector and food production systems in the Mediterranean;
(d) call for the protection of sensitive EU and GI products to be a priority in future trade agreements of the European Commission with third countries;
[E] encourage the European Commission to proceed with the necessary measures to effectively adapt instruments within and beyond the CAP and to ensure the sustainability and resilience of the agricultural sector and food production systems in the
The official meeting of the MED9 Agriculture Ministers will take place in Cyprus on 3 September 2024, in the framework of the meetings organised by Cyprus as the Presidency of the MED9 Alliance of 9 Member States.
(EΦύς/Φ/EАθ)
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