Should a part of the budget for Rural Development be spent on environmentally related actions? And which initiatives should be eligible for higher rates of EU co-financing? These are two main questions that the Presidency has asked the agricultural Ministers to focus on when discussing the Commission’s proposal for the future Rural Development Programme.

”The Rural Development Programme offers the  possibility to support green initiatives, and we now have the opportunity to make it mandatory to spend a certain amount of the money on environmentally  and climate-based initiatives. At the same time we are going to discuss whether e.g such initiatives should receive a higher rate of co-financing,” says the chair, Danish Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Mette Gjerskov.

At the Council meeting Mette Gjerskov will present a progress report on the entire proposal for a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. Several of major issues of the reform have been discussed at all Council meetings during the Danish Presidency. The progress report is a status of the intense debates and puts forward the Presidency’s revised proposals.

Two of the major issues have been the proposal on greening, where 30 percent of direct payments are suggested to be dependent on the implementation of green requirements, and the  concerns about red tape which is also reflected in the Presidency’s report.

The progress report is presented parallel to the European Parliament’s first announcement on the reform and may therefore give a hint on the final decisions that are to be negotiated.

Also on the agenda is:

• Adoption of Council conclusions on a new strategy on animal welfare 2012 – 2015 and on the Commission’s report on the protection of animals during transport.
• Presentation of Council conclusions on the combat against antimicrobial resistance which has been the subject of a well attended conference during the Danish Presidency.
• Status from the Commission on the Member States’ implementation of the directive for the protection of pigs which is to come into force 1 January 2013.
• The Commission’s report on the regulation of organic farming.
• Adoption of Council conclusions on the European Innovation Partnership.

This will be the sixth and the last of the Agricultural and Fisheries Council’s meetings during the Danish Presidency.

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