Both Italy and France have welcomed the EU Commission proposal to make an additional €45 billion available for the Common Agricultural Policy as early as 2028, thus prefiguring a positive vote on the Mercosur treaty at the Agricultural Council of Ministers Jan. 7.
“This is a positive and significant step forward in the negotiations,” Italy’s Prime MInister Giorgia Meloni wrote in a note. “That will lead to the new EU budget, demonstrating that the common-sense approach in support of European agriculture pursued with determination by the Italian government is gaining increasing traction in Brussels,” Meloni emphasized, claiming a personal victory. French President Emmanuel Macron also claimed a personal victory: “TGhis is the result of our determined mobilization and my constant commitment to our farmers,” he wrote on X.
