Agriculture and Fisheries Council

Tuesday 10th December 2013 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr Owen Paterson)]

The next Agriculture and Fisheries Council will be on 16 and 17 December in Brussels. I will be representing the UK to cover the agricultural items while the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Camborne and Redruth (George Eustice) who is responsible for farming, food and marine environment, will cover the fisheries items. Richard Lochhead MSP, Michelle O’Neil MLA and Alun Davies AM will also attend.

This Council will largely deal with the fixing of the 2014 fishing opportunities in EU waters and the Black sea.

On agriculture the Commission will present their proposal for a regulation on information provision and promotion measures for agricultural products on the internal market and third countries. There will also be a proposal for a Council regulation related to the common organisation of the markets in agricultural products (sCMO).

This Council is also notable because the four regulations of the new common agricultural policy (CAP) and the CAP transitional regulation will pass through their final stage of approval. The Council plan to agree them as an “A point” on the agenda. This will allow the regulations to be finally published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

There are currently seven any other business items;

European maritime and fisheries fund (EMFF);

Amendment of an EU directive on national emission ceilings for certain atmospheric pollutants (“NEC directive”);

Conference on “The EU dairy sector: developing beyond 2015” (Brussels, 24 September 2013);

Public consultation results (organic farming);

Animal health/plant health/seeds/control/expenditure;

“Hybrid” nutrition labelling system recommended in some member states;

Market access to the Russian Federation concerning EU exports of plants and plant products.