Luxembourg Calls for Non-Binding CAP Recommendations at EU Council

Luxembourg's Minister of Agriculture, Food and Viticulture, Martine Hansen, participated in the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Brussels on Monday 23 February 2026.

As reported by Luxembourg's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Viticulture, ministers discussed the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2027, focusing in particular on the national recommendations that the European Commission will propose to Member States in the context of preparing their national and regional partnership plans. In this regard, Martine Hansen stressed that these recommendations should serve as a strategic guidance tool without becoming legally binding. Each Member State must retain the freedom to select its interventions according to its specific characteristics, needs and national priorities. She also underlined the importance of a stable regulatory framework for the CAP and called for “a clear and stable vision of the recommendations by summer 2026, given that in Luxembourg, the implementation of the CAP requires the adoption of a law at national level”.

Within the CAP framework, ministers also discussed the monitoring of the 2023-2027 CAP strategic plans and the increasing number of audits. Minister Hansen warned: “During the last CAP reform, Member States were assured that audits would be limited to governance systems. However, neither the number of audits nor the resulting workload has decreased; on the contrary. We ask the Commission to carry out an analysis of the impact of the new assurance model and the strengthened single audit principle on the administrative burden.”

The Council also exchanged views on the Commission’s report evaluating the directive on unfair trading practices. “Our objective is to better protect farmers and small suppliers in the agri-food supply chain and to support their economic resilience”, said Martine Hansen, who recommended strengthening farmers’ competitiveness through additional targeted measures and a CAP budget aligned with the stated ambitions.

Ministers further discussed the EU’s strategic agricultural priorities within the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for 2026 and 2027. In light of global challenges – food security for all, One Health, antimicrobial resistance and transboundary animal diseases – Martine Hansen called for coordinated and coherent action as “Team Europe”, as well as coordination in designating the European candidate for the election of the next FAO Director-General in 2027.

In response to recent natural disasters affecting the agricultural sector, Portugal highlighted the idea of a European reinsurance facility for natural disasters in agriculture. Minister Hansen expressed her sympathy with the Portuguese people affected by severe weather that devastated the district of Leiria. “It is undeniable that the increasing number of natural disasters in recent years makes farmers’ work more difficult and may also weaken effective risk management by insurers when dealing with large-scale risks. The Commissi