The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry stated in Lisbon that the Azores, Madeira and Canaries have united to improve POSEI due to the importance of this programme for the development of Outermost Regions.
 
"Given the importance of POSEI for the Azores, Madeira and the Canaries, it is fully justified that they promote a joint and coordination work towards the defence of POSEI. The aim is to create a programme with a fair financial proposal that is consistent with the position adopted by the European Commission," said João Ponte. The government official spoke at the end of a working meeting with the Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Fisheries of Madeira, José Humberto Vasconcelos, and the Deputy Councillor for the Primary Sector of Canaries, Abel Morales Rodríguez.
 
João Ponte pointed out the European Commission's evaluation report on POSEI that was submitted to the European Parliament and Council. According to him, it acknowledged the overall positive performance of POSEI over the years, particularly as regards to its response capacity to the challenges of agriculture related to the specific geographical situation of ORs.
 
The Regional Secretary added that the document recognises POSEI as decisive for the preservation of the traditional activity, i.e., the so-called "diversification productions" in Outermost Regions as well as for the guarantee of a sufficient supply in terms of agricultural products.
 
The Secretary for Agriculture also stressed that the President of the European Commission had already stated that the POSEI programme for agriculture would be continued without cuts.
 
In this context, João Ponte expressed his bewilderment by the fact that the European Commission presented a budget proposal for CAP in the 2021-2027 period with an estimated reduction in funding for POSEI, a specific programme for Outermost Regions; however, it increased the budget allocation under the first pillar of CAP. According to him, this is a "tremendous inconsistency and seems to forget that ORs are the ones most in need of funds to develop and converge with the European Union."
 
In the light of the proposal presented by the European Commission, the Governments of the Azores, Madeira and Canaries have decided to join forces and develop joint initiatives to defend the specificities of agriculture in Outermost Regions with the European Commission. These efforts involve producers' organisations in order to raise awareness for the need to improve the financial proposal of POSEI.
 
"The status of Outermost Regions must be respected and continue to be adequately funded by the European Union in order to reduce high production costs and aid farmers as well as to offset over-costs generated by the distance from markets, geographic dispersion, weather conditions and the farm size," said João Ponte.