Minister of Agriculture presents priorities of the Czech Presidency in the European Parliament committees

"The Czech Presidency starts in a difficult situation, where we are facing an energy crisis, the war in Ukraine, which has significantly disrupted the global food system, and last but not least, rising prices of agricultural inputs. There is a critical food shortage in the European Union's immediate neighbourhood. That is why one of the main priorities of the Czech Presidency and also the topic of the informal meeting of Agriculture Ministers in Prague in September will be food security concerning both Europe and the region of North Africa and the Middle East," said Agriculture Minister Zdeněk Nekula.

The pressing need for food security, which was one of the main topics at the hearing of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, was also highlighted by another theme of the Czech Presidency, namely strengthening the sustainable role of freshwater and marine aquaculture and increasing its competitiveness in relation to third countries.

An important priority of the Czech Presidency will be to make progress in the sustainability of agriculture, particularly in the areas of food systems, agricultural and food supply, forestry, fisheries, livestock farming and biodiversity.

The "Farmer to Consumer" strategy remains the blueprint for making food systems more sustainable and resilient. The European Commission will adopt some of the specific initiatives contained in the Strategy's Action Plan, in particular the regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides.

The future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a key instrument for achieving the objectives of the Farmer to Consumer Strategy. The National Strategic Plans present many appropriate opportunities to contribute to these objectives and the Presidency will lead a structured discussion on the future of the CAP and the current state of play on the approval of the Strategic Plans at the AGRIFISH Council on 18 July. In order to allow Member States to prepare their national legislation, IT tools and administrative procedures and to give farmers certainty about their future farming conditions, the timely approval of these plans is of utmost importance.

"The proposal for a new regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides, which the Commission published in the second half of June and which will replace the original directive, is also clearly among the highest priorities of our Presidency in the field of agriculture. The Czech Presidency will start the discussion of the proposal and its aim will be to go through the individual headings in turn and reach maximum agreement on the text of the individual articles," said Minister Zdeněk Nekula.

At the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, Minister Nekula and MEPs discussed issues such as the regulation on deforestation. The Czech Presidency intends to initiate trialogues on this subject between the EU Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission. In the area of forestry, the Czech Presidency will also focus on monitoring progress in the implementation of the EU's new 2030 Forest Strategy, with a view to balancing the social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainable forest management.

Minister Nekula informed the Members of the Committee on Fisheries about the Council Conclusions on EU Strategic Guidelines for Aquaculture, which will be submitted for adoption at the next meeting of Agriculture Ministers on 18 July. These highlight several challenges facing aquaculture in the EU that will need to be addressed in the future. Another topic was fishing opportunities in EU and third country waters for next year, which the Council will have to agree this semester.

Ministerial hearings in European Parliament committees are a regular feature of each incoming presidency. It is a practice that serves to inform MEPs about the priorities and issues of the country holding the Presidency and contributes to good mutual cooperation.

Vojtěch Bílý
Spokesman of the Ministry of Agriculture