COMPETITION, SUSTAINABILITY, COMMUNITY AGRICULTURAL POLICY, FARMERS' INCOME, FRUIT&VEGETABLE REFORM, REGULATION OF ORGANIC PRODUCTS, "MILK PACKAGE": THIS IS THE AGRICULTURAL PROGRAM FOR THE FIRST SEMESTER (AND BEYOND) OF THE ITALIAN EU PRESIDENCY

The Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s speech in Strasbourg today will open the first semester of Italy’s European Union Presidency. It is an 18-month program beginning with Italy, and then Latvia and Luxembourg will follow.
The star of the program is agriculture, which together with the Common Agricultural Policy is more than 40% of the EU budget. The appointment of Commissioners is scheduled for July 16 - 17, and since Paolo De Castro’s work as president of the Agriculture Committee of the EU Parliament was highly appreciated and in view of the Expo 2015 theme "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life", it is a challenging appointment as many issues need to be addressed.


The program, posted on the site http://italia2014.eu/it/, indicates sustainable development, competition of agricultural and food production in the EU (with particular focus on stabilizing farmers' income), food safety international treaties, reviewing aid programs to supply fruit and vegetables, bananas and milk to schools and reforming the fruit and vegetable sector.
There will be an assessment on the initial impact in the dairy industry of the "milk package", reviewing regulations on organic production, but also a thorough examination of everything related to animal breeding, from animal health to food safety for the health of consumers. There are many open files that Italy’s Minister of Agriculture Maurizio Martina will need to address. It is a great burden, but also a great opportunity, given the importance Italy has on EU agri-food exports outside its borders: 11.5 billion euros of the EU total 120 billion euros, according to the latest data from the Agriculture Committee.