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EU ministers of agriculture will meet on 15/04/2019 at the Council of Ministers in Luxembourg. The main point of the debate will be the CAP reform package after 2020 - the CAP Strategic Plans, and the green architecture. Another important topic to discuss will be the situation on commodity markets and information on the work of the Working Group on Rural Areas in Africa. Ministers will continue to discuss EU measures against deforestation and forest degradation, or the influence of large carnivores and other species on the agricultural sector. Ministers should also sign the Joint Declaration of the Ministers of Agriculture of the CS, PL and SK on the Renewable Energy Directive after 2020.

EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) adopted on 08/04/2019 an opinion on Horizontal issues, the last draft of the European Commission's legislative package for the CAP after 2020. The rapporteur for the EP report on horizontal issues was German MEP Ulrike Müller (ALDE). COMAGRI addresses in this opinion particularly the financing and management of the CAP, one of the proposals is, among others, the attempt to reduce sanctions for the smallest farmers. According to the report, those who run farms under 10 hectares and who receive less than EUR 1.250 per year should be exempted from administrative sanctions. COMAGRI also requires that the agricultural emergency reserve should be financed from resources other than the CAP budget, the amount of the emergency reserve should be EUR 400 million, with another EUR 400 million being always delivered to the undrawn amounts until the reserve is EUR 1.5 billion. The CAP should be a results-oriented policy, Member States should report to the European Commission on the implementation once in two years, not annually as proposed by the Commission. If subsidy beneficiaries do not comply with environmental, animal welfare and food quality conditionality rules, the support should be reduced by 10% of their agricultural income (currently 5%) or up to 15% if they intentionally violate the rules.

The opinion was adopted by 28 votes to 7 against and 2 abstentions. This is the last of three reports - the opinion on the CMO was approved on 01/04/2019, the opinion on the CAP's Strategic Plans was approved one day later, 02/04/2019. All three reports, together with the opinion of the EP Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (COMENVI), must now be voted on in the EP plenary. However, the last plenary session will take place in the week of 15/04/2019 to 18/04/2019, and it is very unlikely that the vote on these reports will be included in the program. After the European Parliament elections in May, the new members of COMAGRI and COMENVI are likely to decide whether to submit the reports to the EP plenary or to produce new ones.

Copa and Cogeca, the largest European non-governmental organization, called on the new Parliament to take over the reports adopted under the current mandate by COMAGRI to try to negotiate a new form of CAP reform as soon as possible.

On 09/04/2019, Polish State Secretary for European Affairs Konrad Szymański said that Poland does not plan to support the European Commission's proposal to cut the budget for the Common Agricultural Policy and for cohesion policy. According to Szymański, the European Union needs to adopt a budget that is proportionate and objective. The economic benefits of the cohesion policy are obvious across EU Member States, so a strong budget is not a waste of funds but a public investment with clear EU added value. Szymański also warned against the proposed cuts in the CAP budget. The Common Agricultural Policy needs a sufficient budget to provide farmers with compensation and necessary guaranty at a time when the European Union is developing ambitious free trade agreements. According to him, ensuring a strong budget is essential especially for the second pillar CAP.

The European Land Owners Association (ELO), together with the Syngenta Company, organized a traditional conference on the future of the agricultural sector, Forum for the Future of Agriculture, in Brussels on 09/04/2019. The conference was also attended by Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan and Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete. Commissioner Hogan expressed his approval of Commissioner Cañete's speech on the crucial role played by agricultural policy and CAP reform in meeting the European Union's environmental and climate commitments.
According to Hogan, the agricultural sector has already made some progress in reducing the impact of the agri-food sector on the climate and the environment, but much more needs to be done. Biodiversity is decreasing at a very severe pace, especially in areas where intensive farming is present. Therefore, in its proposals of June 2018, the Commission proposes to better target and make the payment of income support for farmers from the CAP conditioned by adopting practices friendly to the environment and climate and to support the creation of public goods. The conference was also attended by a member of the Greens' political group in the European Parliament, Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts. Lamberts disagreed with Commissioner Hogan's speech, criticizing the Commission's proposal for the CAP after 2020 for its lack of ambition in environmental and climate protection.
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Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan said on 08/04/2019 that the European Commission will provide support in the form of subsidies and a number of policy instruments to those farmers who will be adversely affected by the impact of the UK possible leaving the EU with no deal. According to the Commissioner, the hard Brexit will cause serious disruption in some agri-food markets. Measures that could help farmers might include compensation for withdrawals of products, reimbursement of storage costs, or intervention purchases within EU. Hogan said the Commission could offer financial support to farmers in specific sectors that will be severely affected by Brexit. It could probably be the beef, poultry, and pork, butter, sugar, cheese and ethanol sectors.
On 10/04/2019, the heads of EU Member States agreed on postponement of Brexit till 31/10/2019.