The Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Mr Kostas Kadis, attended the Agriculture and Fisheries Council of the European Union, which took place today in Luxembourg.
The main topics of the meeting were ensuring food security and the situation of the agricultural products market, as a result of the consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The European Commission's legislative proposal on the labelling of products with geographical indications was also presented.
In his intervention, the Minister of Agriculture referred to the need to support farmers and stockbreeders with measures beyond those presented by the European Commission. In this context, he stressed the importance of providing direct and adequate support to farmers in the current period in order to safeguard the sustainability of the agricultural sector. It is noted that, in order to seek additional funding instruments for our farmers, Cyprus, together with 12 other Member States, has asked for the possibility of financing farms from the Rural Development budget.
With regard to the situation of the agricultural markets, Mr. Kadis expressed Cyprus' solidarity with the suffering Ukrainian people and the need to make efforts to avoid food shortages, both for the Ukrainian people and for vulnerable areas dependent on imports from Ukraine. He also stressed the importance of ensuring the uninterrupted supply of raw materials for feed and food within and outside the European Union.
Finally, while presenting the European Commission's legislative proposal on the labelling of geographical indication products, the Minister of Agriculture indicated that the European Commission should be given the necessary flexibility to be able to effectively manage specific cases of geographical indication products, for example to be able to authorise an extension of the transitional period for the labelling of geographical indication products.
