The Ministry of Agriculture and Food, following an intense structured dialogue process with the different European Commission Directorates-General, successfully submitted the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan for 2023-2027 on 12 July.

This was one of the topics addressed during the Agrifish council held in Brussels. Portugal was the first member state to deliver a CAP Strategic Plan to the European Commission.

At the Council of Ministers, the Agriculture Commissioner informed that alongside Portugal, three more member states (Poland, Spain and France) concluded the process to revise the plan and the conditions are met for the European Commission’s formal approval, predictably in the first two weeks of September.

Portugal’s funding for the CAP Strategic Plan is 6.713 billion euros, of which 6.127 billion are European funds (EAGF and EAFRD), including assistance on income, sector programmes and rural development programmes for Mainland Portugal, the Madeira Autonomous Region, and the Azores Autonomous Region.

The CAP Strategic Plan fosters active territorial management, ensuring greater equity in the distribution of assistance, boosting small and medium-sized farms, takin account of regional specificities. This instrument is essential in promoting investment and rejuvenating the sector, contributing to the green and digital transition.

The member states’ national strategic plans stem from the CAP’s reform, which was initiated in 2017 and led to the political agreement between the European Commission, Council, and Parliament achieved during the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union.

The current situation of the agricultural markets, due to the invasion of Ukraine, was also addressed during the Agrifish meeting.

In this context, the Minister of Agriculture and Food notes the relevance of having instruments to support farmers in the decisions to produce and maintain suitable levels of supply. 

"In addition, the current climate situation characterised by heat waves also cautions us to think about exceptional measures. The effects of the drought, in terms of weather and water resources, are felt with the fires and the reduction of crops in Portugal, a situation that spread to the entire European Union, where we witness a situation of risk due to extended drought", Maria do Céu Antunes underlined.