Moving forward with the post-2020 EU farm policy reform is the main priority of the Romanian Council Presidency, members of the European Parliament have been told.

The Romanian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Petre Daea was speaking to MEPs on the topic earlier today (Wednesday, January 23).

The council presidency – passed to Romania as of January 1 this year for the next six months – will also seek to finalise the process of adoption of new EU rules against unfair trading practices in the food supply chain.

Other key areas of focus will include efficient ways to tackle the spread of animal diseases, such as African swine fever, and combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the EU, Minister Daea said.

MEPs in the following debate questioned the timetable of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform and discussed some of its aspects, such as fairer distribution of funding among member states, capping the direct payments, generational renewal and the role of women in rural areas.

The need to avoid re-nationalisation of the policy was also discussed.

Many MEPs called for further efforts to tackle the spread of animal diseases, such as African swine fever, while several members additionally raised concerns about trade negotiations with non-EU countries.