Brussels: The Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Maria Panayiotou, welcomed on Monday the establishment of the Import Control Working Group, as announced by the European Commission through the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Oliver Varhelyi, in Brussels.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the official launch of the Working Group took place on the margins of the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers, and is linked to the Implementation Dialogue on import controls held last December, during which the Commission announced the strengthening of its actions in this area.
The Minister described the discussion as "very productive" and thanked Commissioner Varhelyi and her counterparts for the fruitful discussions. "Now we can say that we have officially launched the Working Group on Import Controls, a very important, very critical, and very timely issue," she added.
"The message from today's discussion was very clear. The EU's requirements for food and feed must be applied uniformly to all food and feed, whether produced in the European Union or imported into the Union," the Minister emphasized. "What we want is very clear. We want better coordination among Member States, better cooperation between the Commission and national authorities. We want consistency. We want controls that actually work on the ground," Panayiotou stressed.
She once again expressed pride in the fact that EU farmers "produce high-quality food and meet EU requirements, because we are certain, we know that they produce food that is safe for our health and our environment. And we want them to continue doing so," but she emphasized that "we must ensure that they continue to produce on a level playing field." She also noted that today, Cyprus Presidency can say that a specific step has been taken. "We have turned our commitment to fair competition into action."