The Regional Secretary for Agriculture and Forestry stated in Lisbon that the Portuguese Government must defend in Brussels that the transition between Community support frameworks of the Common Agricultural Policy should maintain the same rules to ensure the payment of aid to farmers' investments.
 
"As for the transition between frameworks, I should mention that the Portuguese Government must defend a two-year period with the rules of the current Community support framework set for CAP," said João Ponte. The government official spoke on the sidelines of the meeting held by the Monitoring Council for the Revision of the Common Agricultural Policy, which took place at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development.
 
In the specific case of the Azores as an Outermost Region, João Ponte stressed that CAP is of great importance and that the archipelago should continue to receive a compensation for production costs due to its constraints as an archipelago region, climate, rough relief, distance from markets and farm size.
 
"We have always defended the strengthening of POSEI since the beginning of this process, as there has been a considerable growth of production in recent years," said João Ponte.
 
"In order to prevent apportionments under POSEI today, we will need to add up 10 million Euros to the current allocation of 70 million Euros. If it does not happen, this situation will hinder our development," added the government official.
 
On the other hand, the Regional Secretary for Agriculture considered the fact that the European Commission admits the scenario of a 30% reduction in the CAP financial envelope is "frightening." According to him, "it would be a tragedy for agriculture in the Azores if this happened."
 
For João Ponte, the Portuguese Government will have to continue the search for allies in order to increase the contributions of Member States to the future EU budget with the aim of minimising any negative impact on the CAP budget.
 
"The position adopted by Portugal on the post-2020 CAP is in line with the Region's understanding of the future of agriculture. We know that the challenges are huge," said João Ponte. In this context, he stressed that "CAP is extremely important for exports outside European as well as for the entire economy generated by the Common Agricultural Policy."
 
João Ponte considered that "a compatible CAP budget is fundamental to respond to the challenges of agriculture, improve the competitiveness of the sector, support family farming and sustainability, attract more young farmers to the sector and to increase agricultural diversification."