Held today on Brussels, the first meeting on agriculture issues of the EUMED-9 group with the aim of working towards a coordinated approach to common problems.

The issues that came into focus are the climate crisis and what the EU needs to improve in order to be effective in cases like Thessaly, the problem of crop failure and downy mildew, but also the problem of invasive fish which mainly concerns Mediterranean countries .

The Minister of Rural Development and Food, whose initiative was the EUMED-9 Summit, emphasized that the participants “advocated that there should be an increase in the reserve fund to deal with incidents, such as those in Thessaly.

They agreed on the possibility of utilizing the rate of 2% from the CAP for “relief” from wounds that have resulted from the climate crisis. Furthermore, they agreed, as a whole, with some individual notes from each one individually, for the creation of a new mechanism that will respond to such phenomena immediately and without delays”.

“Everyone agreed that we should all work together, the institutes, the organizations, to see how we deal with these phenomena. They all appeared to be in agreement with Portugal’s proposal to simplify the CAP implementation procedures. It is unthinkable to transfer a bureaucracy and stress to the backs of farmers when we should do everything to increase the absorbency of financinghe added.

Regarding the agricultural mobilizations, Lefteris Avgenakis pointed out that “we stand with respect, we discuss, we understand the problems, there is tension, there is a problem, but at the same time there is concern and reflexes and real interest. We will insist on the effort that must be made at two levels, national and European”.

“As a member state, Greece, we must insist on the solidarity of the member states. First of all, however, we are on the side of the Greek farmers because we know first hand the problems and especially those that the farmers of Thessaly have to face. We have been with them from the very beginning, we have paid a large amount in compensation and advances, we have clarified and given schedule of the program to support them in total. The reconstruction of the Thessalian plain is not a matter of a few weeks, it is a big effort. We will support her until the end, the prime minister has said sohe emphasized.

The meeting – representing the nine countries – was also attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry of Italy Francesco Lollobrigida, the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment of Cyprus Maria Panagiotou, the Minister of Agriculture and Food of Portugal Maria do Céu Antunes, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Food and Animal Rights of Malta Hon. dr Anton REFALO, Croatia’s Minister of Agriculture Marija Vučković, Spain’s Secretary General of Agricultural Resources and Food Safety Fernando Miranda Sotillos, Slovenia’s Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Eva KNEZ, France’s Director General of Economic and Environmental Business Performance Philippe Duclaud and Deputy Permanent Representative of Greece to the EU Efthymios Kostopoulos.