“The Multiannual Financial Framework will be essential. POSEI is extremely important, with about 77 million euros per year. Now, there’s something significant here. POSEI is not a favor to the region. The Cohesion Policy is not alms and neither is it a favor. In this regard, we will do everything to maintain the amounts, to keep POSEI, as well as the FEADER which leads to the PEPAC [Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan],” stated José Manuel Fernandes.
The Minister of Agriculture was speaking in Rabo de Peixe, in the municipality of Ribeira Grande, in the Azores, during the 50th-anniversary ceremony of the Agricultural Association of São Miguel.
“Given the conclusions of the 2024 European Council, we essentially secured the financial envelope, which cannot be altered regarding agriculture by more than 80%,” claimed the minister, who warned, however, about a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that “risks being destroyed,” criticizing the possibility of each member state reinforcing support with funds from its own state budget.
“It’s being said to the wealthier that they will be able to undermine the poorer, because they have state budget funds to put into their respective national envelopes. There will be unnecessary conflicts between Member States,” observed José Manuel Fernandes.
In his opinion, “what works well and can be improved should never be altered.”
“I hope there will not be a setback in the Common Agricultural Policy, for us to later say: we made a mistake and must go back,” warned the Minister of Agriculture.
Facing the challenges at hand, the minister highlighted the role of all political agents in defending agriculture.
“And therefore, our solidarity and our objective where everyone is important: the Regional Government, the Prime Minister, the Members of the European Parliament, and also the President of the European Council, who happens to be Portuguese, and who has responsibilities in this domain, and being in function, it will be him who will take the proposal for approval by unanimity at the respective Council,” he argued.
In his speech, the Minister of Agriculture also advocated for the simplification of the sector.
“Farmers cannot be occupied with filling out paperwork when they should be working the land. In the agencies, there are excellent public administration employees. But, we also have some who seek to delay, block, and look at the projects to see how they can reject them, when they should look at the projects and see how they can approve them,” he maintained.
Reaffirming commitment to the sector, the minister assured that the Azores “can count on the Government’s solidarity,” recalling, for instance, the “16 million euro support to avoid cutbacks” and guaranteed that the executive is working on simplifying legislation related to animal health to expedite processes in collaboration with the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM).
José Manuel Fernandes also emphasized the role of various leaders of the São Miguel Agricultural Association, which “grew with persistence, resilience, vision, institutional loyalty, but also with just demands.”
“Agriculture is food security. And in this sense, given the geopolitical situation, it is also defense, innovation, research, territorial cohesion, it is industry and it is employment that we want to be well paid and that attracts the young,” he reinforced.
