The European Commission's fertilizer action plan is absolutely necessary, but we must also see its urgent implementation, with significant allocations from the crisis reserve because it is not enough to use only national budgets, considers the Acting Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Tanczos Barna.

He led the Romanian delegation at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AgriFish) meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.

'Today's discussions highlighted the fact that European agriculture is facing multiple crises: rising production costs, fuelled by rising energy, fuel and fertiliser prices, disruptions on the milk market and extreme weather events, particularly drought, all of which are testing farmers and the competitiveness of European agriculture. It is clear that farmers need support and measures with immediate applicability. Romania is making considerable efforts to save domestic fertiliser production. The fertiliser action plan is absolutely necessary; however, we must also see its urgent implementation, with significant allocations from the crisis reserve. It is not enough to use national budgets alone, as adequate European funding is also needed,' said Deputy Prime Minister Tanczos Barna, acting Minister of Agriculture, according to a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The main item on the agenda of the ministers' discussions was the challenges related to the supply of fertilizers and their prices in the European Union, in the context of the presentation by the European Commission of the action plan for fertilizers. At the same time, the ministers analyzed aspects regarding agricultural trade, recent developments in the field and the difficulties in several agri-food sectors, reported to the Council by the member states.

During the discussions, Tanczos Barna pleaded for measures with immediate applicability to prevent the reduction or even abandonment of agricultural activities as well as the associated negative economic and social effects.

Referring to the recent developments in agriculture, the Romanian minister reported the major difficulties that Romania is facing in the vegetable, pig, dairy and sheep sectors. He also stressed that the implementation of the EU-Mercosur Interim Agreement must be monitored carefully, as it may have a negative impact on the Union's agriculture, including Romania's, especially on the livestock sector, the Ministry of Agriculture's press release reads.

'The assessment of the impact of the Mercosur agreement must also be carried out at the level of national markets, given that the effects of imports may be concentrated and may disproportionately affect certain vulnerable states. The EU must act in such a way that no Member State is left to bear the negative effects generated individually. Safeguard measures must be applicable with speed and protect the interests of each Member State, when intervention is necessary,' Tanczos Barna said at the AgriFish meeting.

During the discussions, together with other states, Romania requested that the Commission provide concrete solutions and the immediate mobilization of the agricultural reserve to support Romanian farmers, who are in an extremely serious situation caused by the milk crisis at European level. At the same time, the Romanian delegation supported supporting farmers affected by extreme weather events.

The agenda of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting also included discussions on the request of several member states, including Romania, to remove the cormorant from the list of protected species, given the significant increase in the population of this species and the serious impact on the fishing sector. There were also debates on the N+2 rule within the CAP SP 2023-2027, issues regarding the labeling of the origin of food products, as well as sustainable forest management. AGERPRES(RO - writing by: Andreea Marinescu; EN - writing by: Bogdan Gabaroi)