The meeting started on Sunday when ministers responsible for fisheries began efforts to reach a political agreement on the proposal for fishing opportunities in the Atlantic and the North Seas for 2024 and for some stocks also for 2025 and 2026, and the proposal for fishing opportunities in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas for 2024. The Spanish Presidency expected to reach a deal by the end of the second day.

Agriculture was on the agenda on the second day. The Council considered the compromise text of the proposed regulation on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques. Slovenia considers the proposal unacceptable and did not support it. "The case-by-case approach and the scientific risk assessment are crucial, as well as mandatory labelling requirements that must apply to all products containing plants obtained with new genomic techniques. Slovenia is opposed to the use of plants obtained with new genomic techniques in organic farming as we do not have sufficient information on their impact on human and animal health or biodiversity," stated State Secretary Eva Knez.

Today, the Council received information on the state of play of the proposed revision of the Breakfast Directives. This is important for Slovenia as it includes the revision of the Honey Directive in the part relating to labelling the origin of honey blends. In this context, Slovenia advocates a clearer labelling of the origin of honey blends with the indication of each country of origin together with the percentages that each represents in the blend. State Secretary noted in the discussion: "the proposed solutions for labelling honey blends are an important step in ensuring transparency for end users and fighting honey adulteration." In line with the new proposal for the Breakfast Directives, the label should include each country of origin of the honey in decreasing order together with the percentages that each represents in the blend with a tolerance of 5%. "The future Belgian Presidency can count on Slovenia's support and constructive cooperation in further negotiations with the European Parliament," stressed the State Secretary.

Today, the European Commission also presented the proposal for amending the EU rules on animal welfare during transport. State Secretary Knez stressed that Slovenia supports the modernisation of common rules on animal transport. In the future, we should focus more on the transport of meat, which is more cost-effective and environmentally friendly and would not cause additional suffering to animals intended for slaughter. "We support the establishment of minimum space requirements, controls, more stringent requirements for transport in extreme temperatures and guidelines for transporting most vulnerable animals. This would contribute to the aim of preventing unjustified suffering by animals during transport."

In the afternoon, ministers discussed the strategic plans for the common agricultural policy during the first year of their implementation. State Secretary emphasised that the beginning was difficult, in particular due to numerous new interventions and a short implementation deadline. She added that more attention should be devoted to climate change adaptation and risk management. "Slovenia, together with Croatia, proposed the introduction of an hoc mechanism amounting to 2% of the national allocation from strategic plans to address crises." She concluded by stating that we should provide farmers with a stable environment and predictability needed for planning, in particular in light of adopting other EU legislation. The Council took note of the situation on agricultural markets following the Russian invasion in Ukraine. Slovenia shares the view that the markets are stabilising due to lower prices of inputs and the easing of inflation. The Council also discussed the proposed regulation on the production and marketing of plant reproductive material in agriculture and the proposed regulation on the production and marketing of forest reproductive material.