Czech and Slovak Agriculture Ministers Hope for Closer Cooperation Within V4

Voderady/Bratislava, 22 January (TASR) - Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) and Czech Agriculture Minister Martin Sebestyan believe in closer cooperation among agriculture ministers within the Visegrad Group (V4: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) format. Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday after bilateral talks in Voderady (Trnava region), both ministers also addressed the need to amend the upcoming new EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2028. "The joint proposal that we'll also push for at the European level is that the agricultural sector needs to receive more financial resources as of 2028," said Takac after talks with his Czech counterpart. According to him, under the current European Commission proposal, EU funds for Slovakia's agriculture sector could drop by as much as 30 percent. Takac reiterated his opposition to the so-called capping of direct payments and to the possible exclusion of the food-processing sector from the EU's common agricultural policy. "Our countries have a similar structure of agriculture and food processing. We have the same priorities in European policy. We want to open a new stage in our mutual relations and cooperate more and more," said Sebestyan after Thursday's talks. According to him, both ministers aim to make agriculture and food processing more competitive. "So that we won't be countries that export cheap commodities and import food," he said. He believes that common goals will also be promoted within the V4 framework in order to help improve the situation in the agricultural sectors of both countries. "Budget, simplification and self-sufficiency are common priorities of all agriculture ministers within the V4," stressed Sebestyan. Takac underlined that two weeks ago, and for the first time in a while, a meeting of agriculture ministers within this format took place in Brussels. At Thursday's bilateral talks, the ministers also discussed the issue of imports of products from third countries. Takac is calling for their regular monitoring, stressing that EU standards must be maintained. He's repeatedly called for the establishment of a special fund at the European level to compensate farmers and food producers affected by imports from third countries. mf/df