Greece is taking on the rotating presidency of the European Union during the first half of 2014; it’s the fifth time Athens has held this position since it joined the continental bloc in 1981.The priorities in the field of the agriculture were listed in the last weeks by Athanasios Tsaftaris, Greece’s rural development and food minister.
Obviously, Greece presidency gives great importance atthe recent Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, in a manner “faithful to our political decisions. We need to finalise the CAP reform, which was our common success, to give European farmers a stable working environment,” he said during a debate with Mep’s. Particular attention will be paid to the timely adoption of the delegated acts which should closely reflect the political agreement concerning this reform, in order to provide a stable environment for EU farmers.
Other areas in which the Greek presidency will try to advance include promotion measures for EU agriculture products at home and abroad and the animal and plant health package, which also covers rules on the production and marketing of seeds. “Despite the European Union has the highest level of food safety, inaccurate labeling, fraud and failure to identify animal diseases show the need to update the legislation” said minister Tsaftaris. Last, the focus is also on fruits and vegetables: the Greek Presidency intends to examine the report that the Commission is expected to submit in the first quarter of 2014 , based on the results of the 2007 review for fruit and vegetables .
