Spain's agriculture, fisheries and food minister, Luis Planas, has received full support from France for Spain's rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) in the second half of the year. A semester whose priorities are identified in food security, responding to the need to make food available to the population in quantity, quality and at reasonable prices, a "complicated task at the moment" due to the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine and the drought.

Planas met today in Paris with the French Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Marc Fesneau, and the Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville, to whom he reported Spain's priorities in agriculture and fisheries, while recognizing that the evolution of the war in Ukraine and the consequences for the agricultural sector throughout the EU, especially in the market situation, as well as the drought, will condition the ministerial meetings. In this sense, the minister called for the search for a common response within the EU to the problem of rising food prices, which affects more or less all member states, and which is caused by the increase in the cost of raw materials raw materials, energy products and fertilizers following the war in Ukraine.

The Spanish minister reiterated that open strategic autonomy will be an essential element on which Spanish initiatives will be guided during the presidency of the Council, and not only in the agri-food sector, but also for security, defense or energy. “We need a stronger, more united European Union, capable of having strategic autonomy with respect to the rest of the world”, he explained. In the agri-food sector, this means having an answer to the challenges posed by the current time of climate change, in which progress must be made towards more sustainable food systems, he said. In their meeting with the Secretary of State for the Sea, Planas and Berville underlined their excellent cooperation on issues such as negotiations on total allowable catches with third countries, environmental issues, socio-economic aspects, fisheries control and fisheries management.

Among the priorities identified for the second half of 2023, the preparation of the end-of-year Council on total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas will focus the efforts of France and Spain, who share the objective of obtaining the best results in these possible results for Atlantic and Mediterranean fish stocks, as well as gaining recognition of the specificity and diversity of their fisheries. France and Spain also share the goal of accelerating the decarbonisation and modernization of the fishing fleet.