MED-9 ministers (from Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain) issued a joint call to help the agricultural sector deal with water scarcity and secure water supplies amid intensifying droughts, reports euractiv.com.
“This ministerial session is a testament to our determination to address water scarcity and ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for our farmers. We call on the European Commission to move swiftly on the European Water Strategy," Cypriot Minister Maria Panagioti said at a press conference in Cyprus, where agriculture ministers from nine member states called on the bloc's executive to make rapid progress on water security policies.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the strategy in her speech to the European Parliament on 18 July 2024. On the same day, environment ministers from 21 EU countries also called for a European strategy "to ensure that water is a fundamental a priority on the European agenda in the coming years and make the EU's water management goals a reality."
The priorities of the MED-9 group
The group's ministers insisted on the need to finance European agriculture, in particular by creating a European insurance system, as Spanish Minister Luis Planas had already requested from the European Commission on Monday, according to EFEAgro. That call was echoed by his European colleagues in the MED-9 group on Tuesday morning.
In a joint press release, the ministers also called for "flexibility and simplification in the financial framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of water management measures", with the possibility of financing investments in irrigation.
"It is necessary to strengthen the financing of the CAP, because the CAP is the instrument that guarantees the presence of agriculture in the regions", emphasized the Italian Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida at the press conference.
Ministers also called for increased EU investment in applied research to promote "the use of available technologies and breeding to create varieties that can better adapt to water scarcity".
French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau mentioned the importance of gene-editing techniques, saying they "must be a tool to produce varieties that are more resistant to water and climate stress."
"Water security must remain at the core of the European Commission's work - to ensure a secure and sustainable future for you and all our farmers," commented Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski, who participated in the conference and met bilaterally with the ministers.
Finally, the ministers called for the need to strengthen cooperation between the MED-9 group in terms of research, best practices and technological solutions.