The ministry in Spain has signed commitments to implement the first actions within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
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The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), whose community negotiation culminated on June 29 in Luxembourg; the approval in the first round of the draft law on sustainable fishing and fisheries research by the Council of Ministers; the negotiation of the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (FEMPA); and the activation of the first measures of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) for the modernization of irrigation systems have been some of the most relevant commitments fulfilled by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in the first half of the year.
The interinstitutional agreement reached between the Council, Commission and European Parliament regarding the CAP will allow the implementation of 47,724 million euros (2021-2027) for Spanish farmers and ranchers, as well as the negotiation of the FEMPA, of which Spain is the main beneficiary with 1,120 million euros, 21% of the total, have marked a large part of the negotiating agenda of the ministry in the first months of the year and, in both cases, it ended with pacts that incorporated the main demands raised by Spain.
At the national level, with the green light from the Government to the draft sustainable fishing law - its public information process ended on June 24 - the starting signal has been given to modernizing the sector, contributing to the conservation of resources, to strengthen the link between science and fishing policy and to value the socio-economic function of fishing in the territory.
In agriculture, the ministry has activated the first 45 measures of the recovery plan to modernize irrigation in Spain, with a public contribution of 260 million euros, a very important advance towards environmental sustainability, to develop increasingly efficient irrigation, with a efficient use of resources thanks to innovation to improve agricultural productivity and profitability.
Within the planning of the ministry, to carry out sustainable irrigation works declared of general interest, 72 million euros of public spending have been allocated from the general state budgets for 14 actions that will modernize some 29,000 hectares.
The new CAP has two major novelties: its strong environmental orientation - more than 40% of the budget will be allocated to measures to combat climate change - as well as the flexibility granted to member states to design the application of this policy and adapt it to the agronomic reality of each country through a strategic plan.
In order to favor the necessary generational change to ensure the future of economic activities in rural areas, specific aid is provided for the incorporation of young people. The future CAP incorporates the gender perspective, which was an initiative of Spain, and will also allocate specific aid to facilitate the incorporation of women into activities related to the primary sector.
The FEMPA, a key instrument of support to face the future challenges of the community fishing and aquaculture sector in the period 2021-2027, will continue to be the main instrument of support, not only for the producer, processing and marketing sector, but also for all those public and private actors that carry out actions in the field of fishing, aquaculture and in the marine environment.
Regarding fisheries, it is also worth highlighting the important agreement reached between the European Union and the United Kingdom on fishing opportunities in shared waters, since it clears the uncertainties that Brexit had caused to the Spanish and European fleets and guarantees that they will be able to dispose of of the quotas that were planned during 2021 and 2022. ■