Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Costas Kadis attended the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council, which took place today in Brussels.
The main topic of discussion was the situation of the agricultural products market after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. In a highly charged atmosphere, EU Ministers listened via teleconference to their Ukrainian colleague Roman Leshchenko presenting the situation in his country and the problems it faces in supplying food to the population. Ministers pledged to provide all possible support to meet requests made by the Ukrainian Minister.
EU Agriculture Ministers then exchanged views on a number of issues, most importantly on measures to ensure food security in the EU.
In his intervention, the Minister of Agriculture expressed Cyprus' full solidarity with Ukraine and its suffering people. Referring in particular to the issue of food security in the EU, Mr. Kadis, after stating that rising production costs have a direct impact on the farming and livestock world, stressed the need to take concrete measures to support farmers and livestock farmers.
Referring to Cyprus, he noted that its geographical location and its island character create increased difficulties in the supply of food and raw materials. He referred in particular to the extremely unfavourable position of Cypriot livestock farmers, due to the increased prices of raw materials for animal feed. He pointed out that the challenges must be met in a spirit of solidarity between Member States, in order to ensure that the negative consequences of the war are dealt with in a uniform manner and that the viability of any agricultural or livestock holding in any Member State is not jeopardised. He stressed that a Member State which was a producer of raw materials could not build up stocks for several months and prevent the supply of another Member State which was not a producer of raw materials. Kadis also proposed the temporary suspension of import duties on raw materials for animal feed and cereals for human consumption from third countries, as a measure to facilitate their import and at lower prices.
The Agriculture Minister welcomed the measures proposed by the European Commission to tackle the crisis, noting that they should be complemented by additional measures. He noted that "we are experiencing a crisis, and we consider it necessary to promote measures at least equivalent to those taken for the pandemic, both through the Rural Development Programme and through state aid." The views and suggestions expressed by all the ministers in the Council will be processed by a special working group later this week in order to finalise the support measures for the agricultural sector that member states will be able to take.
Finally, Cyprus, together with 11 other member states, supported Spain's request to take the necessary measures to address the consequences of the significant increase in the cost of raw materials and fuel in the fisheries sector, including aquaculture.
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