The Confederation of Portuguese Farmers (CAP) will be in Brussels from Wednesday to Friday to ask the Agriculture Commissioner to approve €60 million in state aid due to the sector.
The Confederation travels to Brussels with a delegation of about 20 people, led by its president and consisting of members of the management and technical team.
“The first thing to look at is the meeting with the Commissioner for Agriculture, which in the situation we are in is a very important meeting because the European Commission has to approve the request for state aid that the government has made to pay farmers this amount. I should have paid them earlier,” CAP President Alvaro Mendonça e Moura told Lusa.
At stake is a sum of 60 million euros, which is part of the government’s announced support package for the agricultural sector.
A meeting with Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski is scheduled for Wednesday at the European Commission headquarters.
“It is very important that the European Commission quickly makes a decision. […]. Hope [o pagamento] will be in the coming weeks. Farmers cannot wait for this forever,” stressed Alvaro Mendonça y Moura.
For the CAP president, the second important topic to consider is amendments to the Common Strategic Plan for Agricultural Policy (PEPAC), which the confederation says the government should “immediately present” in Brussels.
On the same day, CAP will meet with the Committee of Professional Organizations in Agriculture (COPA) on the activities and activities of the organization.
Thursday’s agenda includes a public meeting with the agricultural confederations of Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands to “analyze the general situation of farmers in Europe”, a meeting with members of the European Parliament and a meeting with the representative of the Permanent Representative of Portugal to the European Union (REPER).
At the last meeting, CAP will inform REPER of the conclusions of the meeting with the Commissioner of Agriculture.
The trip will end on Friday with a visit to an agricultural production site in Flanders.
During the working day, the confederation also wants to draw attention to problems such as the lack of measures to support production and a structured vision of agriculture, forests and the rural world in Portugal.
On Friday, CAP accused Agriculture Minister Maria do Seu Antunes of conducting a “political maneuver” by approving 320 million euros for the sector, stressing that only 60 million will be paid this year.
The Council of Ministers approved on Thursday a resolution to allocate 320 million euros in support to the agricultural sector, aimed at mitigating the impact of drought and inflation on production costs.
Speaking to Lusa at the time, representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food explained that this amount was included in a support package for the sector worth more than €400 million that was launched by the government.
The remaining amount relates to support, which depends on the green light from Brussels, he said.
The government announced a support package worth more than €400 million aimed at mitigating the effects of the drought and strengthening PEPAC, which has not stopped protests in the sector.
Farmers, who demand CAP flexibility, fair working conditions and competition, the right to adequate food and increased value of operations, have decided to continue the planned protests, justifying it by saying that support is a “handful of nothing”, taking into account that the terms and methods of payment are not defined .
Since then, Agriculture Minister Maria do Seu Antunes has been meeting with representatives of the Civil Farmers’ Movement, associations and confederations representing the sector.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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