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| Slovakia is hindered by capping and direct payments in the future EU agricultural policy |
| Brusel, 18.11.2025 |
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| Slovakia is demanding more understanding in the future EU Common Agricultural Policy regarding capping and direct payments. This was indicated by State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Slovak Republic Vladimír Vnuk at the meeting of the EU Council for Agriculture and Fisheries in Brussels on Monday, TASR correspondent reports.
Vnuk specified that the penultimate Council of Ministers for Agricultural Policy under the leadership of the Danish Presidency focused on the common agricultural policy after 2027 and on the import of agricultural commodities from abroad. He recalled that the member states are generally not satisfied with the European Commission's (EC) proposal for a long-term budget after 2027, when each country has some reservations in a certain area.
"We are happy that the support in the future common agricultural policy is targeted, but we are most concerned about the capping and degressivity of direct payments," he explained. This is a situation that, according to the European Commission, will not affect 96% of European farms; from the Slovak perspective, the remaining 4% are important and perceived negatively, because the structure of Slovak agriculture is also historically such that there are a large number of large farms that manage up to 80% of agricultural land.
The State Secretary stated that the Slovak Republic is therefore proposing that the measure regarding the capping and reduction of direct payments be perceived as voluntary, not mandatory. Under pressure from the European Parliament, the Commission has made certain concessions to farmers and regions, but as Vnuk stated, governments must analyze this proposal, but according to the first responses, the EC's responsiveness is not sufficient and is not satisfactory for farmers.
"We see that the Commission is trying to allocate additional funds to rural areas, it is still not enough for us, but we still have to analyze it," he said. In the area of agro-commodity trade, Monday's discussions were mainly about trade with Ukraine, although agreements with Mercosur and other countries were also mentioned, Vnuk revealed.
"The Commission has called on us to comment on trade with Ukraine. We still insist on our position here. We demand a special fund created for the Member States neighboring Ukraine and also that production standards be maintained. The same as those that farmers in the EU have, so that this does not threaten their competitiveness, because farmers from third countries have lower input costs when compared to farmers from the EU, which from our point of view threatens the competitiveness of the EU," he described the situation.
A special initiative, submitted on Monday by Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Croatia (other countries may join), asks the European Commission to allocate funds for aquaculture from the common fisheries policy, from a large package of national and regional plans.
“Slovakia is not a coastal country, so we want to support the pond and those activities related to fish farming in freshwater waters in Slovakia,” said Vnuk. According to him, this initiative is only at the beginning and will be “pushed” in the negotiations in the coming months.odkaz na stránku |
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