Mercosur, Lollobrigida: 'With reciprocity of rules Italy is ready to give its green light'
The Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, yesterday participated in the informal Council of EU Ministers: 'All requests on CAP funds and fertilisers presented by the government accepted'
Key points
An accurate screening in the folds of the EU budget to recover some 90 billion euro and thus neutralise the heavy cuts that the von der Leyen Commission had proposed for the EU agricultural policy (-22% on the multi-year budget). But there are also a number of measures of shorter scope but no lesser impact, such as the suspension (retroactive from 1 January) of the Cbam carbon adjustment mechanism that is igniting fertiliser prices and putting EU farmers in difficulty. Not forgetting the long-awaited reassurances on the principle of 'reciprocity', i.e. the guarantee that agricultural products imported into the EU from Latin America are produced to the same safety standards required of European producers.
It is through these decisions, taken on Wednesday 7 January by the informal Council of EU agriculture ministers, that Italy's long-awaited go-ahead for the EU-Mercosur trade agreement could arrive at the Coreper meeting scheduled for next Friday.
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A negotiation led personally by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida. "There are many issues that we dealt with," explained Lollobrigida, "but the first fundamental step was the defence of the CAP. The von der Leyen Commission had proposed cutting the Common Agricultural Policy budget by 22 per cent. Around 90 billion less resources, over seven years, for European farmers. We opposed this from the very beginning. The European Parliament also sided with us and we have now managed to find about 90 billion euro in the folds of the EU budget, which will make it possible to neutralise the proposed cuts and Italy will even gain an extra billion compared to the previous seven-year period. This intervention was a priority because before we worry about opening up markets, we need to ensure the survival of the entrepreneurial fabric and in particular of farms. Whereas with the announced cuts, businesses were at great risk'.
In detail, where were the resources recovered?
A first tranche of 48 billion was recovered from the cohesion fund by establishing a constraint in favour of agriculture. These resources will therefore no longer be tied to rural areas. In Italy, around 92% of the country's territory is made up of rural areas and there was a strong risk that these funds would end up in initiatives implemented in rural areas but with no agricultural value.
And the second half?
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