Whether there will be an agreement with stakeholders on the future of agriculture on Wednesday remains to be seen. Agriculture, Nature and Food Minister Piet Adema sees a sustained deal as more important than a deadline, and that sustained deal also includes a signature from farmers’ lobby organization LTO. “Otherwise we have no agreement. Then it makes little sense, obviously’, says Adema.
The green light from the Agriculture and Horticulture Organization (LTO) is still far from certain. After negotiations at the so-called main table of the agriculture agreement, the club said on Monday that it had rejected the draft text. A significant adjustment is needed regarding LTO. Furthermore, the organization’s patience is running out: they wanted to have a definitive answer on the text earlier this week.
Even Adema himself does not yet know if there will be an agreement on Wednesday. “We will have to wait and see in the coming period,” he said Friday ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting. Five days before the crucial meeting, there are still “some very strong issues that we need to resolve”.
“I don’t care about a deadline”
expiration
“I’ve always said it: it’s not a question of a deadline, but of the quality of the agreement”, underlined the minister. ‘A full-fledged deal, with support.’ According to Adema it is not possible that the agreements on agriculture up to 2040 will fall or remain standing in a few days. Incidentally, the negotiations took much longer than expected.
Even the minister himself defines this month as ‘crucial’. After all, Brussels has approved the scheme for the biggest polluters of sensitive natural areas (peak polluters), and it is the intention that farmers will quickly know where they stand.
Source: BNR
Fernando Dowling is an author and political journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of the political landscape and a passion for analyzing the latest political trends and news.
