In the frame of the Polish Presidency of the Visegrád Group the Meeting of the Committees on Agriculture of the Parliaments of the Visegrád Countries took place on 14–15 November 2024 in Warsaw. On behalf of the Polish Sejm Mirosław Maliszewski, Chair and Robert Telus, Deputy Chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, while on behalf of the Polish Senate Ryszard Bober, Chair, and Jerzy Chróścikowski as well as Beniamin Godyla Deputy Chairs of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development participated in the event. From the Slovak National Council Rudolf Huliak, Chair and Ján Kvorka, member of the Committee on Agriculture and the Environment, while on behalf of the Czech Senate Petr Fiala, Deputy Chair of the Committee on National Economy, Agriculture and Transport were present at the event. The Hungarian National Assembly was represented at the meeting by Sándor Font, Chair of the Committee on Agriculture.

The participants were welcomed by Dorota Niedziela, Deputy Marshal of the Sejm. The Members of Parliaments had an exchange of views first about the “Relations with Ukraine in the perspective of its membership in the European Union” then in the second session about the “Common Agricultural Policy – conclusions from the current perspective and the future”. The Polish standpoint was presented in both panels by Czesław Siekierski, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, then regarding Ukraine Mr. Piotr Kobza, Deputy Director of the Department of External Policy of the European Union at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Prof. Marek Wigier, Director of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics - National Research Institute delivered their introductory speeches.

The participants agreed that the V4 countries, as frontline countries need to be particularly prepared for the risks posed by Ukraine's accession to the EU and the inflow of Ukrainian agricultural products, and that joint action would be of paramount importance to protect the common interests of the Visegrad countries in this field.

Concerning the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) common interests and the need for joint action were also outlined, for example regarding maintaining the 2-pillar structure of agricultural payments, simplification, farmer-friendly regulation as well as combating negative attitudes towards agriculture, mainly by means of education and information.

In the context of Ukraine's accession to the EU Sándor Font proposed that Member States should call on the European Commission to firmly represent the interests of EU farmers, especially smaller farmers in the accession negotiations and to carry out preliminary impact assessments. Regarding the future of the CAP he highlighted the importance of competitiveness, a crisis-proof and farmer-centered agriculture and pointed out that a possible reduction of agricultural subsidies could also cause serious social tensions due to the expected rise in food prices, therefore protecting agriculture is at the same time also a way of preventing a social crisis.

+Photos (Polish Senate)