Luis Planas, Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, said this Tuesday in Córdoba: We must “enhance the response” to drought. “There is no magic wand, but we have the tools to respond to it,” he added. A few minutes before the start of the match EU agriculture ministers meeting “When we talk about climate change and how we respond to it, we talk about drought, among other things,” he told reporters at the Palacio de Congresos.
Noting that one of the issues to be addressed at this meeting will be water shortages, the Minister said, “We are in one of the regions at greatest risk in terms of climate change. Ministers appreciate it” days and now we will discuss it, we need to develop the answer”.
to the informal ministerial meeting, Janusz Wojciechowski, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentIt is celebrated with the title “New technologies for a more sustainable and resilient agriculture”. Specifically, attendees will discuss its use on this last day. new genomic editing techniques in the production of plant varieties, for example in order to obtain plants that are more resistant to water scarcity and high temperatures.
When asked if he was concerned about the stance of some ministers, such as the German (European Affairs director-general Swantje Nilsson is from this country), who did not attend the meeting, Luis Planas commented “from the first contacts”. we talked about it, i can say have an open and constructive attitude by almost all member states. there are concernsWe must ask ourselves what these are and try to answer them.”
Planas recalled that on July 5, the Commission proposed a regulation on the use of new gene editing techniques (the aim is to simplify their use). In this regard, he stated that his testament is “to do this in a completely transparent way, with guarantees, so that this plant production consisting of seeds and plants will benefit food production”. Minister mentioned the difficulty of production “Adequate food, environmental protection and future production possibilities”.
First political results
“My aim is to arrive at some initial political conclusions during this period. We probably won’t be able to delve deeper into this issue. approval of the regulation In this way, we will only move forward so that future presidencies can complete their legislative work,” said Luis Planas, referring to Spain’s work in the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Whether the new legislation on genomic techniques relates to legislation on genetic techniques pesticide reduction“Everything and nothing is interconnected. We must strike the necessary balance between managing to produce more food and at the same time protecting the environment,” the Spanish Minister of Agriculture insisted.
Regarding the opportunity of this meeting to discuss the use of new technologies in the primary sector as a means of adaptation to climate change, Luis Planas said, “We had partial discussions, but today we have the opportunity to discuss it.” EU ministers and representatives. “The question I asked the ministers at this meeting is this: It is understood which techniques are more effective in tackling climate change in food production. and choices therefore need to be supported by the EU and all ministers.”