The meeting focussed on the cooperation of the Baltic States in the negotiations on the new financial framework of the European Union as well as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2020. The participants of the meeting agreed that, in order to defend their farmers’ interests, small countries have to seek a common position. It was noted that one of the key common objectives is the convergence of direct payments, which, at the end of the current period, would be much lower than those granted to the old EU Member States. Mr Stančikas noted that the declared agricultural land and crop area in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia had increased, and, as a result, in 2020 farmers of all the three countries would not actually receive the negotiated 75 percent of the EU direct payment average, i.e. around EUR 196/ha. The representatives of the Committees agreed that other fundamental areas for joint negotiation included the necessity to maintain the rural development measures and to propose risk management measures, a new support pillar.
The participants also discussed the need for coordination while searching for export markets for agricultural and food products. It was noted that such small countries like Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia should seek a common niche in the world markets and create a common trademark. Mr Stančikas raised the idea that the Baltic States, together with Finland, could create an export mark of a ‘GMO-free region’. Other participants backed the proposal.
The next meeting of Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian representatives is scheduled in October 2017. A joint resolution of the Baltic States on the CAP after 2020 is expected to be signed then.