Greek Minister of Rural Development and Food Athanasios Tsaftaris met on 12 December 2013, in Athens, with Commissioner for Health and Consumers Tonio Borg. With this meeting, Minister Tsaftaris closed a series of contacts with European Commissioners on matters concerning Agriculture and Fisheries as he had previously held meetings with Dacian Ciolos and Maria Damanaki.

 

In view of the next Council of Ministers for Agriculture and Fisheries of the EU, due to be held in Brussels on 16-17 December 2013, issues related to the competence of the Commissioner were discussed. In particular food, feed, and phytosanitary and propagation material issues were tackled.

 

Tsaftaris presented Greek priorities in the field of agriculture and fisheries under the Greek Presidency. There has been an agreement from both sides on all issues to be addressed during the Greek Presidency. In addition Minister Tsaftaris informed Commissioner Borg for the parallel events planned to take place.

 

Special emphasis was given to the discussions and forthcoming legislation on plant health and animal health, reproductive material and food safety issues.

 

Lastly, Tsaftaris informed the European Commissioner on the meeting held with the Italian Minister of Agriculture Ms. Nunzia De Girolamo since Italy is the next country to hold the Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2014.