EU ministers have agreed a partial negotiating position on updated rules for the EU’s common organisation of agricultural markets, as talks begin on legislation linked to the bloc’s next long-term budget for 2028 to 2034.
The common organisation of agricultural markets, known as the CMO, sets the single market framework for agricultural products across the EU, and the proposed revision would update rules covering areas including sector-specific market measures, the EU school scheme, marketing standards and crisis preparedness, the Council of the EU informed on Monday.
It said its position is “partial” because it does not cover financial and cross-cutting issues, which are being handled as part of negotiations on the wider multiannual financial framework — the EU’s seven-year budget plan — for 2028 to 2034.
The agreement will allow the Council presidency to start negotiations with the European Parliament, while the final funding available will depend on the eventual budget deal.
Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon said the Council wanted to support the agrifood sector, strengthen farmers’ position in the food supply chain, and ensure citizens can continue to access high-quality food.
What would change in specific sectors
Under proposals for the EU’s next long-term budget, existing EU funds — including support under the common agricultural policy (CAP) — would be pooled into a new national and regional partnership fund, with each member state preparing a single plan covering areas that currently have separate programmes.
Within that framework, the Council said it backed making certain “sectoral interventions” mandatory for apiculture (beekeeping) and for fruit and vegetables, and in some circumstances for wine, with an option for flexible derogations for wine in countries where the sector is not developed.
A separate protein crops and oilseed sector would also be created to replace the current dried fodder sector, with member states encouraged to recognise producer organisations in the new sector.
The EU school scheme — which funds the provision of fruit, vegetables and milk to schoolchildren as well as educational activities — would continue, and would move from operating on a school-year basis to a calendar year, with transitional measures included to support implementation.
The Council position would also allow for marketing standards to be introduced for products including protein crops, beef, pigmeat, sheepmeat, goatmeat and rice, with the aim of providing consumers with more information about product origin.
On hemp, the Council backed harmonising production and marketing rules across the EU to address differences between national rules, covering all parts of the hemp plant and keeping a 0.3% threshold for Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the main psychoactive compound associated with cannabis — alongside strict seed certification.
The Council added it had also introduced safeguards to ensure the new hemp rules would not interfere with other national regulations or policies, including those related to public security, drugs or health.
