Miguel Arias: ‘Las ayudas directas agrícolas están garantizadas y el presupuesto consolidado hasta el 2013’ [Miguel Arias: ‘Direct agricultural assistance is guaranteed and the budget consolidated until 2013]

At a press conference following his return to Spain from the European Council in Brussels on 24 and 25 October 2002, the Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Miguel Arias, explained the significance of the agreement reached in Brussels and its effect on Spanish agriculture. He emphasised that the forthcoming enlargement of the European Community would not take place at the expense of Spanish farmers and that they would continue to receive the high level of support which they had been receiving to date.