European Union farm ministers reached a revised negotiating position as the clock struck midnight, raising hopes that a new common agricultural policy will be agreed on Wednesday as talks moved to Brussels.
“We now have a clear updated mandate ... There’s lots of momentum here,” Irish farm minister Simon Coveney, who chairs the council of agriculture ministers, told reporters following two days of negotiations in Luxembourg.
EU agriculture policy is decided jointly by EU farm ministers, the European Commission and the European Parliament.
Talks will be held in Brussels on Wednesday, starting at 4pm Hong Kong time (8.am GMT), to resolve outstanding issues.
“There are some difficult issues to resolve. I am not predicting it is going to be easy. It is not,” Coveney said.
One of the main objectives is to shift to subsidies that are based on the size of agricultural holdings, replacing the current link between farm payments and historical production levels in many parts of Europe.