The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights Anton Refalo attended the AgriFish Council meeting in Brussels. Together with other European ministers responsible for the fields of agriculture and fishing, many important topics were discussed, including the package that provides the main goals for the future of the fishing and aquaculture sectors, agreements and commercial negotiations with third countries, and also the situation of international markets and the impact of climate effects.
In his intervention on the package for the future of fishing, while acknowledging the need for environmental measures, Minister Refalo reiterated the need to safeguard the future of the fishing and aquaculture sectors . He highlighted the fact that the “one size fits all” approach is not ideal, especially as the majority of the EU’s fishing sector is made up of small-scale fishing fleets. The minister also made reference to the exploitation of the resources of the Mediterranean Sea by third countries that are not committed in the same way as European countries, which puts Maltese fishermen at a disadvantage.
The effects of the war in Ukraine were also discussed during the meeting. Regarding this, Minister Refalo reiterated that the Maltese authorities have issued several schemes to assist the agricultural and fishing sector and reiterated that the Government is committed to continuing to stabilize the situation. “We believe that the Strategic Plan will continue to help the situation with various measures and schemes. But as a long-term strategy we believe that the EU needs to take measures that strengthen its strategic autonomy. This is to strengthen food security within the EU while reducing our dependence on third countries for supplies such as energy, fertilizers and fodder,” said Minister Refalo.
Minister Refalo ended his intervention by saying that “Malta will continue to follow the progress of the agricultural markets while we remain committed to listening and conveying the difficulties of our producers. This is especially after in recent months, through legislative changes, a reform was made to strengthen the national forums for agriculture with the aim of strengthening dialogue, governance and representation of all agricultural sectors.”
Photo: MAFA.
