Agriculture and Fisheries Pre-Council Statement

George Eustice Excerpts

Thursday 7th December 2017 Written Statements

[The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (George Eustice)]

The Agriculture and Fisheries Council will take place on December 11-12 in Brussels.

As the provisional agenda stands, the primary focus for fisheries will be reaching a political agreement on Atlantic and North Sea total allowable catches and quotas for 2018.

The primary focus for agriculture will be a presentation from the European Commission on “The Future of Food and Farming”.

There are currently five items scheduled under “any other business”:

stakeholder conference on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and its future: “Beyond 2020: Supporting Europe’s coastal states communities”

implementation of the landing obligation, choke species risk in January 2019

outcome of the conference on “Modern Biotechnologies in Agriculture: Paving the way for responsible innovation”

outcome of the high-level conference on African swine fever (ASF) (Prague, 8-9 November 2017)

tackling unfair trading practices with an aim to achieve a more balanced food supply chain and strengthen the farmer’s position.

On 23 June 2016, the EU referendum took place and the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the European Union and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force. During this period the Government will continue to negotiate, implement and apply EU legislation. The outcome of these negotiations will determine what arrangements apply in relation to EU legislation in future once the UK has left the EU.

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