Luxembourg, 22 October 2024
Fisheries
Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2025
The Council reached a political agreement on new limits on fish catches for the Baltic Sea’s key fish stocks, including herring, cod, plaice, sprat, and salmon, in order to ensure sustainable stocks and a viable sector for the future.
The agreement on total allowable catches (TACs) and national quotas for 2025 is in line with the scientific advice provided by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The agreement sets the maximum quantities each member state will be allowed to catch for each fish stock.
EU fisheries ministers took into account both environmental and socioeconomic considerations, aiming to ensure sustainable fishing practices while supporting the livelihoods of those in the fishing industry.
The livelihoods of fishers depend on the long-term sustainability of our fishing stocks. With today’s agreement we aim to strike a balance between helping fish stocks recover, protecting marine ecosystems, and ensuring the viability of the sector in the future.
István Nagy, Hungarian Minister for Agriculture
- Baltic Sea: Council agrees on catch limits for 2025 (press release, 22 October 2024)
- Management of the EU’s fish stocks (background information)
International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas
Fisheries ministers held a discussion in order to provide the Commission with guidance on the EU position for this year’s annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
The ICCAT meeting will take place from 11 to 18 November 2024 and will address a series of topics, including bluefin tuna, sharks, and tropical tunas.
ICCAT is responsible for the adoption of measures to ensure that fishing in the Atlantic Ocean and the adjacent seas is carried out in a sustainable way and that marine ecosystems are protected. The EU is a contracting party to ICCAT.
Agriculture
The common agricultural policy after 2027
The Council discussed its priorities for the future common agricultural policy (CAP) after 2027, in order to ensure a competitive, crisis-proof, sustainable, farmer-focused and knowledge-based sector.
EU agriculture ministers pointed out the importance of the CAP in achieving those objectives. They also highlighted the key goals of ensuring food security, while guaranteeing a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, concrete solutions and incentives for farmers, and reasonable prices for consumers.
The Hungarian presidency issued a set of presidency conclusions on this topic, which were supported by 26 member states.
Trade-related agricultural issues
The Council discussed the latest trends in agrifood trade, a regular item on the Council’s agenda that was last discussed at the July Agriculture and Fisheries Council.
Ministers held a strategic discussion on ways in which all farmers can best benefit from trade in the medium and long-term, given its overall benefits to the EU’s economy.
In particular, the Council assessed current trade flows of agrifood products, ongoing negotiations for bilateral free trade agreements, recent developments on the multilateral front, and agrifood trade with the EU’s main trading partners.
During the discussion, the Council provided political guidance on boosting European agriculture’s competitiveness and enhancing the EU’s leadership position in global markets.
Ministers welcomed the fact that EU agrifood trade continues on a positive path, with a trade surplus of €33.7 billion in the first half of 2024 – an increase of €1.5 billion compared to the same period in 2023.
They noted, however, that more needs to be done in order to compensate and support affected farmers in sensitive sectors, so they can cope with increased competition from non-EU producers. This would be of particular importance in relation to new trade agreements.
EU agriculture ministers also touched upon other relevant developments, including China’s recent actions in relation to agricultural trade, welcoming the Commission’s actions in the WTO in this respect.
Additionally, ministers reiterated their support for Ukraine, while also mentioning they were looking forward to a swift negotiation of a long-term trade arrangement with Ukraine. Some ministers also stressed that they were in favour of further limiting agrifood imports from Russia and Belarus.
EU food chain: challenges
The Council discussed the main challenges the EU food chain is currently facing.
The EU food chain, which includes agriculture, food and beverages processing, wholesale, retail and catering, employs 29 million people – 14% of the EU workforce – and generates €800 billion in added value.
Nonetheless, EU food chain operators face a number of challenges, including climate change, the spread of animal diseases and plant pests, antimicrobial resistance, as well as issues linked to the lack of harmonisation of food labelling initiatives.
Another challenge is the disparity between EU and non-EU production standards in areas such as sustainability, animal welfare, and consumer information.
During their discussion, EU agriculture ministers explored ways in which to tackle these challenges and to boost the competitiveness of the EU food chain, while ensuring a steady supply of safe and nutritious food for EU citizens.
- Challenges faced by the EU food chain – information from the presidency
- Watch the recording of the public session
Other business
Among the ‘other business’ items, during a public session, the Hungarian presidency provided the Council with information on the outcome of recent meetings, namely:
- the conference on the prevention of food waste (Budapest, 1 October 2024)
- the meeting of CAP directors (Budapest, 10-12 September 2024)
- the conference of directors of EU paying agencies (Budapest, 16-18 October 2024)
- Outcome of the conference on the prevention of food waste (information from the presidency)
- Outcome of the meeting of CAP directors (information from the presidency)
- Outcome of the conference of directors of EU paying agencies (information from the presidency)
In addition, several ‘other business’ items were raised by a number of delegations.
- The results of the meeting of agriculture ministers from the Visegrád group, Bulgaria and Romania (information from the Polish delegation)
- The EU response to the consequences of extreme climate events – funding crisis measures in the European Union (information from the Portuguese delegation)
- The outcome of the PeaceBread conference 2024 (information from the German delegation)
- The need to extend the application of the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework in the agricultural sector and increase the individual limit per agricultural enterprise – (information from the Romanian delegation)
- Revised rules for hunting cormorants and seals in order to protect sensitive fish stocks (information from the Swedish delegation)
- European coordination for animal health vaccination (information from the French and Spanish delegations)
- The risk of decommitment for rural development programmes (information from the Slovak delegation)
The Council also adopted without discussion the items on the lists of legislative and non-legislative A items.
Preparatory documents
- Provisional list of A items, non-legislative activities
- Provisional list of A items, legislative deliberations
- Provisional list of A items, addition 1
- Provisional agenda
- Background brief
Outcome documents
Press releases
- Baltic Sea: Council agrees on catch limits for 2025
- Central African Republic: Council extends the mandate of the EU advisory mission for two years
Source – EU Council