Agriculture and Fisheries Council

Elizabeth Truss Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2015 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Elizabeth Truss)]

The next Agriculture and Fisheries Council will be on 16 June in Luxembourg. My hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (George Eustice), will represent the UK. We are expecting Dr Aileen McLeod MSP and Rebecca Evans AM to attend.

As the provisional agenda stands, the following items will be discussed.

On agriculture, the presidency will aim to secure a general approach on the proposal for a regulation on organic production and labelling of organic products. This will be followed by a presentation from the Commission and an exchange of views from member states concerning a consultation on fishing opportunities for 2016.

There are currently three confirmed any other business items:

Proposal for a regulation on Animal Health;

Outcome of a meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture of the Visegrad group extended to Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia (18-19 May); and

Extension of the eligibility period of expenditure for the Operational Programme Fisheries 2007-2013.

There are also four possible any other business items:

Proposal for a regulation, amending the GM food and feed regulation, that would allow member states to restrict or prohibit the use of genetically modified food and feed on their territory;

Communication from the Commission reviewing the decision-making process on genetically modified organisms (GMOs);

The two recent reports from the Commission on mandatory country of origin labelling; and

International Year of Plant Health 2020.

[HCWS21]