BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — The Council of E.U. Agriculture ministers on Dec. 16 formally adopted the four basic regulations for the reformed Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), as well as the transition rules for 2014. This follows on the approval of these regulations by the European Parliament in November.

"I welcome the adoption of the CAP Reform regulations by E.U. ministers. This follows on from our political agreement earlier in the year,” said E.U. Agriculture & Rural Development Commissioner Dacian Ciolo?. “As far as the implementation of the reform is concerned, the commission has worked extremely hard with member state and European Parliament experts in recent weeks to clarify the delegated acts, and it seems that we are now very close to a stable text. 

“The onus now turns to member states to decide how they intend to implement the reform, based on the options provided in the agreement."