Spain promotes a more ambitious European response to climate risks in agriculture

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, stressed the need to strengthen European risk management instruments in agriculture given the growing impact of extreme weather events. According to Planas, "drought, lack of rain, floods, and extreme weather events are making food production much more complicated." It is therefore "absolutely necessary to take preventive measures, but also remedial measures and risk management strategies."

Planas participated in the informal meeting of the European Union's Agriculture Ministers in Nicosia, Cyprus. The minister welcomed the European Commission's guidelines for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) beyond 2027, particularly the integration of risk management into national plans, the increased flexibility of agricultural insurance, and the proposal of new European instruments such as the Unity Safety Net.

Promotion of a European agricultural reinsurance system

Spain has highlighted its experience in developing agricultural insurance systems as a basis for moving towards more effective European solutions.

The Spanish model, with decades of experience and a high degree of implementation, has become a benchmark for climate risk coverage in the sector. Even so, the minister warned that, in the face of large-scale disasters, these systems could be subjected to strains that affect their sustainability.

Therefore, Planas advocated for the creation of a European agricultural reinsurance mechanism to complement national systems and strengthen their capacity to respond to extreme events.

Proposals to improve crisis response

Spain has proposed improving the effectiveness of European instruments through a more agile and proactive use of available resources.

The minister stressed the importance of prioritising the use of EU funds, then resorting to reprogramming funds from national and regional plans under the future CAP, and lastly, using national funds.

Furthermore, Luis Planas also proposed the possibility of fully financing aid to farmers affected by natural disasters with European instruments such as the European Union Solidarity Fund and available budgetary resources.

Planas also supported allocating the crisis reserve exclusively to market measures and stressed the need to ensure sufficient funding for health and plant protection programmes.

The minister highlighted "the success of eco-schemes in Spain, with a participation of 78% of declarants, more than 88% of the agricultural area and more than 19 million hectares, within the framework of the application of the current CAP," instruments that contribute to improving the sustainability of the sector and its adaptation to climate change.

Non official translation