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The priorities of Latvia’s EU Council Presidency will be outlined to the various parliamentary committees by Latvian ministers in a series of meetings to be held during the last two weeks of January.
Agriculture
A key Presidency priority is the organic farming regulation, Agriculture Minister Jānis Dūklavs told the Agriculture Committee on Wednesday 21 January, stressing that the Presidency will seek agreement in the Council and start negotiations with the Parliament as soon as possible to avoid having the proposal withdrawn by the Commission.
The Presidency will also focus on simplifying the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and making progress on the animal health and plant health regulations in “trialogue” talks with the European Parliament and Commission, he said. The Presidency will closely follow market developments with regard both to the Russian embargo on EU food products and in the dairy sector, given that milk quotas are to expire at the end of March 2015.
MEPs urged the Presidency to tackle the impending crisis in the dairy sector, press for more measures to help farmers hit by the Russian embargo and back Parliament's wish to pursue work on reform of the EU school fruit, vegetable and milk scheme, despite the Commission's recommendation that legislative work on it be put on hold.
Thursday January 22, 2015/ EP/ European Union.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu
