 Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. We are about to start. Thank you Excellencies distinguished delegates ladies and gentlemen Good afternoon and welcome to the second day of the 43rd session of the European Commission on Agriculture. I Hope you have rested well after yesterday's part of the session and have enjoyed the field visit this morning Let me provide you with the schedule for today as outlined in the order of the day We will start shortly with item 11 Election of the ACA chairperson the first and second vice chairpersons and the other members of the executive committee Followed by item 12 any other business and Item 13 date and place of the 44th session of the ACA After item 13, we will move to the review and adoption of the report of this session The draft report has been made available in all four official languages by the secret secretary at heart copies are available at the registration desk We are moving now to the ACA elections. I Would like to inform the commission that at this stage no further nominations for the elections will be accepted Before we start the election in my capacity as a chairperson of ACA, I would like to first Recognize and commend the extraordinary dedication and hard work of this executive committee Over a bit less than two years during our term. We faced many challenges Not least the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. They were in Ukraine extreme climate events and opportunities Particularly the UN food system summing plus two stock taking moment and the UN 2023 water conference The resilience Experience and expertise of the executive committee was vital to dealing with the challenges and building on the opportunities And I thank you all for your flexibility Adaptability and good spirits throughout this difficult period The work of this commission is extremely important for Europe and Central Asia And it has been my pleasure to work with each of you in the executive committee and with the FAO regional office towards the delivery of the sustainable development agenda and SDGs in Europe and Central Asia. I wish each of you every success and I hope to working with you again in the future. I Would like to move now to the elections. I Wish to remind the delegates that under the rules of procedures of ACA the commission is invited to elect The ACA chairperson the first and second vice chair persons and the six other members of the executive committee The secretariat have received the following nominations For the position of the chairperson of the European Commission on Agriculture Ms. Lydia Pobantonova, permanent representative of the Republic of North Macedonia to FAO For the position of the first vice chairperson of the European Commission on Agriculture Professor Sekos A. Harudunian President of the Hellenic Agriculture Organization Dimitra, Greece For the position of the second vice chairperson of the European Commission on Agriculture Mr. Andrea Angeli International Relations Officer Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Sovereignty and Forests of Italy For the positions of other members of the executive committee, Mr. Roman Diatka Permanent representative of Czechia to FAO and WFP Mr. Michel Levesque Agriculture Councilor Permanent Mission of France to the UN in Rome Ms. Evelyn Lantos has head of unit Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary Mr. Murat Demir Chanov German of the land management committee in Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ms. Liliana Martin, head of the of the Public Policy Coordination and EU integration department Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry of the Republic of Moldova Ms. Victoria Bokharova, second secretary representative of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation at the permanent representation in Italy Mr. Teresia Karamolysova, state advisor at the Foreign Coordination Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Slovakia And Mr. Yuri Grinevecki, first secretary, alternate permanent representative of Ukraine to FAO Considering that for the position of the chairperson of the ECA and for the positions of the first and the second vice chairperson The numbers of nominations are the same as the numbers of vacancies Based on rule 6.5 of the rules of procedure I am submitting to the commission that the appointments for these positions be decided by clear general consent Should there be no objections to this, I will consider that the commission is in agreement with this I do not see objections, thank you very much With this, I submit to the commission to elect Ms. Lydia Popandonova as the chairperson of the ECA Mr. Serkos A. Harudunian as the first vice chairperson of the ECA And Mr. Andre Angeli as the second chairperson of the ECA If I see no objections to the election of these candidates, I will consider them elected Seeing no objections, I announce that the commission has elected the new chairperson and the new vice chairperson Thank you very much Now taking into account that the secretariat has received more nominations than available seats for the other members of the executive committee The election for these positions will be conducted through a secret ballot vote For this, I give the floor to Mr. Ilya Betlem, FAO elections officer who will conduct the voting procedure Mr. Betlem, you have the floor Thank you very much Mr. Chairperson and good afternoon delegates The secret ballot voting procedure will elect six members of the executive committee with a mandate from the end of the current session for a two year period We have eight candidates for the six vacancies to be filled as introduced just now by the chairperson In accordance with paragraph 9 of rule 12 of the general rules of the organization, the six vacancies will be filled simultaneously in one election The voting procedure will be in full accordance with the basic text of FAO as well as in accordance with established practices Before running through the voting procedures, I need to remind all members and delegates of the fundamental importance of complete secrecy of the ballot I also need to recall the obligation that all those responsible for the supervision of any vote by secret ballots shall not disclose to any unauthorized person any information which might tend or be presumed to tend towards destroying the secrecy of the ballot This is set out in the general rules of the organization Voting delegates will be asked to hand over electronic recording or communications appliances such as mobile phones and tablets Electronic appliances will be kept under the supervision of the secretariat and will be returned to the delegate at the exit of the voting area Immediately after the delegate has deposited their ballot paper in the ballot box It could be considered to leave electronic appliances behind on your desk Now on to the voting procedures Delegates will be called one by one in alphabetical order starting with the letter A to go to the voting area to the left of the head table Your left Delegates must bring their session registration pass to show to the teller at the entrance for identification A ballot paper will then be issued by one of the two tellers at the entrance The ballot paper contains in this election eight candidates in alphabetical order of their country of origin Delegates are required to cast six votes for six different candidates as there are six vacancies in this election Delegates are invited to mark the six candidates of their choice with an X I must stress underline the importance that voting delegates mark six candidates since ballot papers that show less or more than six votes shall be invalid It is not possible to select only one or two or any number short of six candidates as six votes must be cast for the ballot paper to be valid It is also not possible to cast a vote for one candidate and abstain from further candidates If a voting delegate wishes to abstain in the vote the ballot paper should be left blank entirely and no votes should be cast The six candidates who receive the largest number of votes will be elected as members of the executive committee Provided that they also reach the required majority of more than half of members casting valid votes As with other votes this number of members casting valid votes does not include abstentions or defective ballots Under paragraph 4c of rule 12 of the general rules of the organization the ballot paper cannot have any other mark or notation other than that required for the indication of the vote As this would also invalidate the ballot paper I should add that each ballot paper does carry my initials as per rule If a voting delegate makes a mistake in the ballot in the voting area or invalidates inadvertently the ballot paper They may request a new blank ballot paper for me from the elections officer while they are still in the voting area The invalidated ballot paper will remain in my custody I also need to remind delegates that under rule 12 once voting has commenced no delegate or representative may interrupt the voting Except to raise a point of order in connection with the vote Before we proceed we need to establish the quorum which under rule 4 of the rules of procedure of the commission is a majority of the representatives I will ask the secretariat to do a quick check of the number of representatives sitting behind the flags right now Please bear with us for a second while we do that Thank you, Sofia. I'm told that we have 37 representatives here. That means that we have a quorum and we can proceed to the vote Before we open the vote I will repeat one more time a bit ad nauseum that for a ballot paper to be valid it will either have zero votes to abstain Or it has six votes to vote for the candidates And with that thank you chairperson over to you to announce your appointment of the tellers. Thank you Thank you very much Mr. Bedlam for the very useful information. I hope it's fully understood and that we have smooth elections Before we start the vote I wish to announce to the session that in accordance with rule 12 a paragraph 10C of the general rules of the organization I have appointed Mr. Branco Saraz from Montenegro and Mr. Gonzalo Aries from Spain to act as tellers in this session Thank you. I call the Russian Federation please Thank you chair as regards the latest instructions from the Russian Federation we withdraw our candidacy and call for people to vote for Kazakhstan We think that Kazakhstan's presence in the Executive Committee would meet all of the obligations of proper geographical representation of the Executive Committee and ECHO in the Bureau Thank you Russian Federation for this update I will have to wait from the secretariat to inform me whether we are good to go or we need further Okay as I am informed due to the decision of the Russian Federation to withdraw from the elections we will need to pose for about 10 minutes to prepare new ballot papers for the delegates to vote Thank you for your patience Dear ladies and gentlemen I please call you to come inside The voting process is about to start Dear delegates please take your seats The voting is about to start Ladies and gentlemen voting is about to start I call also the scrutiners to take their place at the voting area We are ready to initiate I now pass the floor to the ECHO secretary Mr. Pyotr Rodachik for the initiation of the voting Thank you Thank you very much Mr. Chairperson I am going to read the names of the countries in alphabetical order And the representatives of those countries will be requested to go to this voting area starting from here going in that direction The first country I am calling is Armenia Armenia is not present Austria please The next country is Azerbaijan Please note that you may leave your mobile phones on your desk or will be requested to hand them over to our colleague at the first desk The next country is Belgium please Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia please Cyprus The next country is Czechia please Estonia Finland please France followed by Georgia and Germany please The next country is Greece Greece please Hungary please Ireland and Israel Italy please Kazakhstan please Kazakhstan please Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan please Latvia and the next will be Lithuania and Luxembourg please Luxembourg Malta please Montenegro please The Netherlands please followed by North Macedonia Poland please Portugal please Republic of Moldova please Romania please Romania is already there Russian Federation please Slovakia Slovenia Spain please Switzerland please Tajikistan please Turkey please the United Kingdom please Ukraine please I'm sorry Uzbekistan please I would like to I would like to call again those countries who were called but did not vote so I would like to ask now Armenia Kazakhstan Tajikistan and Turkey thank you very much the voting has been concluded now the elections officer the tellers, the scrutiners and the FAO staff involved in the voting procedure will proceed to the counting room and after that we will have the results of the voting meeting post thank you ladies and gentlemen please take your seats we are resuming the session ladies and gentlemen dear delegates we resume now our next session and I wish to announce the result of the election of members of the executive committee ballot papers deposited 37 invalid ballot papers 0 abstentions 0 majority required 19 the following have been elected Mr. Roman Diatka from Czechia 37 votes Ms. Evelyn Lantos from Hungary 37 votes Ms. Teresia Kramolisova from Slovakia 37 votes Mr. Michel Levec from France 35 votes Ms. Liliana Martin from the Republic of Moldova 34 votes and Mr. Yuri Grinevecki from Ukraine 32 votes not elected Mr. Murat Dermishanov from Kazakhstan with 10 votes I would like to congratulate the new chairperson the new first and second vice chairperson and the other members of the executive committee and I wish them all the best in fulfilling their new mandates the next agenda item is item number 12 any other business would any members or observers or observer representatives like to raise any other business item at this time I see Russia Thank you very much chair I think on the previous agenda item we would like to congratulate the new members of the Bureau on their election and wish them productive work in the forthcoming period at the same time we express regret at the absence of a representative from the Eurasian region in the Bureau and that imbalance shows that the interests of that region are being neglected and that is very sad, thank you Thank you Russian Federation so would any members or observer representatives like to raise an AOB item at this time if the commission is in agreement I would like to close this agenda item their delegates I would now like to go to agenda item 13 date and place for the fourth session of the ACA Hungary you have the floor Thank you so much as for the place of the next session I would like to note that the government of Hungary we are glad to announce that we would be more than happy to host the meeting of the Committee of Agriculture European Committee of Agriculture next session so we are going to be able to welcome all of you here the next session, thank you Thank you Hungary for your kind offer well noted now based on the decision of the commission taken in 2014 I would like to recall that the session of the ACA will be in alternative years and at least 6 months prior to the regional conference for Europe thus the 44th ACA session should take place in the autumn of 2025 tentatively the session will take place between 30 September and 3rd of October 2025 let me also inform you that in line with the rules of procedure of ACA the director general of FAO in agreement with the chairperson of ACA will decide on the exact timing of the next ACA session should any delegations wish to make comments the floor is open for interventions thank you let me close the item and take note of the debate the suggestions will be forwarded to the director general of FAO for his consideration we are nearly at the end of the session today we have only one final item on the agenda review and adoption of the report of the session the draft report has been made available in I think it's only English in only the English language of the ACA by the secretariat at the registration desk let me now give the floor to the reporters to provide a short summary of the report please miss Vibornova and mr. Eries you have the floor thank you thank you chair thank you and I would like to express gratitude for the work which has been done in this session and we would like to convey to this 43rd session a draft report which you have already had a chance to have in your hands we would like to thank the secretariat for the support they have extended to the reporter team we've tried to present a report which is as balanced as possible which would take into account both what has been dealt with in the conclusions under each items as well as what has been said in the room and I'm also grateful for the work which has been done by my colleague thank you Mr. Chair members of the commission as reporter I would like to thank the representatives of the secretariat who have prepared an excellent basis for our work as reporters would also like to thank the translators and my colleague the second reporter from Spain for his work our aim was to be as precise as possible in reflecting what was said in the discussions and to prepare relevant conclusions on most of the agenda items we managed to achieve this as a reporter I was guided by the fact that the report should be objective and impartial in reflecting the whole discussion especially on those items which are important to the whole region and in preparing the conclusions under item 7 of the report the measures taken by the FAO in their response to the multiple crises in the open central Asia which was one of the most lively items for discussion it was not possible to achieve a consensus and it's my duty I think to draw attention to that fact before the report is adopted and in the second part of my statement I will speak in my national capacity thank you I thank the reporters for their presentation of the draft report and the floor now is open for any comments I reiterate that the floor is now open for any comments from the members of the ECA on the report I have the civil society organizations asking for the floor please thank you Mr. Chair and we really need to thank the reporter and the secretariat for the work done but we have we would like to underline the discussion that we had under item 7 on multiple crises that was extremely important also because we all know that multiple crises unfortunately it's something that is stable we are in a stable multiple crisis situation it's not and as it is as we read now we think there is a lack of reflection on the fact that the answer to the multiple crisis cannot be reduced to boosting international trade or the digitalization of the systems so we think that we are missing some of responses that could have been done and have been discussed especially the response given by the local community and their integrated capacity to support the multiple crisis as was discussed also during the side event and this means that we are not at all in that report addressing the climate crisis including the loss of biodiversity that is essential in this moment to address and we have lack to reference for example on agriculture and as I said before integrated community development and this is really missing in this part and we consider that as the status is stable it's not in some years we are in crisis we will figure this and it's not only the war the war is there we are all conscious of the war but it's the report was a multiple crisis so we thought that although the work was excellent done by all the reporter and the secretariat we are doing a very important part of the discussion on this part thank you very much thank you civil society organizations I now see Russian Federation asking for the floor please thank you chair the delegation of the Russian Federation expresses its disagreement with a number of the points in the draft report first of all we feel it's necessary to enshrine in the report the fact that the delegates in the Russian Federation of visas were denied before the opening of the session and at that point it was the only participant from our country registered for a regular event which the FIA organizes and conducts in accordance with the constitution of the organization and then the conclusions do not fully reflect the state of the actual debate it effectively reflects the position of only one part of the countries namely the countries of the European Union and those states who share their approach and we draw the attention of delegates the fact that the European Commission on Agriculture includes many more countries and so only reflecting the EU's position of the report should be viewed as an attempt to usurp the commission by the member states of the EU and we've expressed our position regarding the conflict in Ukraine and the facts which have had an impact on food security in the region and the world including unilateral measures and sanctions and in accordance with 8 1 of the rules of procedure of the European Commission on Agriculture we request that this statement be viewed as an official request for the Russian delegation's opinion to be reflected in the report regarding unilateral coercive measures and their effects on food security and nutrition globally and in the region and I'd like to take of our right here to add another paragraph which would read as follows and I'll move to English Commission noted the position of one member in relation to the impact on the negative effects of unilateral coercive measures sanctions to the regional and global food security Thank you Thank you Russian Federation Yes we would have to see your proposal in writing in some form in order for the Commission to have an opinion on your proposal so please send us the proposal Spain you have the floor Thank you Thank you very much sir we'd like to know please what format would this inclusion take place in I understand that Spain on behalf of the UN it's 27th the state is asking to format the proposed inclusion of the Russian Federation would take place so is it with the impression that it was us to be inserted as a paragraph if I am correct but this is to be clarified by the Russian Federation I see nothing so this is the case a paragraph inside report under the relevant paragraph to item number 7 if this is the case maybe the Russian Federation can confirm yes I see nothing again but please Russian Federation confirm it as well Thank you Yes in our understanding we would like item 7 to be a separate paragraph to be sent in just now to the secretariat Thank you Russian Federation for the clarification and I give the floor to Spain Thank you again sir having heard from the Russian delegate on behalf of the European Union of 27 member states we think that this is a minority view therefore this should be the format that it's included in not as a paragraph but as an expression of that minority Thank you Thank you Spain on behalf of the EU and its 27 member states I give the floor to the Russian Federation Thank you Thank you chair I'd like if possible to read out the provision in the rules of procedure Rule 8-1 at each session adopts the report of its work which should reflect its opinions, recommendations and decisions including if there is such a request the opinion of the minority and an appropriate request was made by a delegation in particular point sign she does not have the rules of procedure and that was a free translation of the text in the rules of procedure So what I would suggest is a paragraph to the minority view of the Russian Federation and this would be reflected also in a footnote and sending to the annex where the whole statement of the Russian Federation would be included in the annex this would be my proposal if the parties agree I see Spain Yes president Thank you very much sir for your proposal we think that it's perfectly adequate with regard to the regulation or the rules of procedure in force, thank you I give the floor to the Russian Federation Thank you chair in this specific case unfortunately we have to differ and we want to see this paragraph in the actual text of the conclusions on item 7 Thank you Russian Federation noted I see France asking for the floor Thank you very much sir, I think we can speak French so just so that your proposal is clear did you want to add a paragraph in the report plus a referral in the footnote, is that right and the interpreter kindly asked the French speaker to speak a little further away from the microphone next time please You are correct France you have as well Thank you bearing in mind what you've said perhaps we could take a break so that we can consult perhaps we could have a five minute break so we can have a consultation and come back to you, would that be possible please Thank you France if no one wants to no member state would like to take the floor at this moment yes this would be the case a five minute break would be beneficial, thank you meeting post Dear delegates, dear ladies and gentlemen we are about to resume our session so during the break we are going to get the text from the Russian Federation which is the followed I will read it to you once more to take note the commission noted the position of one member in relation to the impact of negative effects of unilateral coercive measures slash sanctions to regional and global food security this was the text that the Secretary had received my question now to the Russian Federation would be where exactly do they wish to insert this paragraph in the draft report in order to understand exactly the position thank you and please Russian Federation very much chair, we propose that it be placed after paragraph 22C so thank you Russian Federation is the commission agreement with this Spain you have the floor thank you chair on behalf of the EU and its 27 member states we wish to express our disagreement with this proposal as has been done at previous times when there's been disagreement on text in council and at the conference or at the European regional conference we would like this sort of sentiment to be expressed as a footnote and we need to take into account that when the commission takes note of a text or of a report it takes note of that report in its entirety including the footnotes and we understand that this sort of expression of disagreement as has already been said means the expression of a minority position and therefore it should be included as a footnote directly in a footnote thank you Spain on behalf of the European Union and its 27 member states noted so now seeing no other Russian Federation thank you chair once again I would like to revert the rule to procedure in which there is no indication of whether the opinion of a minority should be reflected in a footnote or in the report itself and our proposal is to reflect it in the report per se and there is no reference to footnotes in the rules of procedure as we see it thank you thank you Russian Federation noted now as there is no other member state asking for the floor I would like to refer to the report of the 33rd session of the European regional conference and the practice followed by FAO and the conference including the conference and council and make a proposal seeing that there is no compromise on this issue my proposal would be to include a footnote stating that the Russian Federation disassociated themselves from the content of this paragraph and the paragraph would be stated here and presented an expression of minority views which is reflected in annex so if we have more annexes than one it should take a number accordingly and I also invite the Russian Federation to have the full statement that it was made during the conference included in that annex so everything would be in the report this would be the chair person's proposal to the commission and I invite you to take consideration and decide or come with a new proposal thank you Russian Federation please I think you are rather preempting events regarding footnotes and disassociation by the Russian Federation although in this case that's what's going to happen however I understand that it's already the end of the session we're all tired but I have clear instructions to include in this agenda item takes what we've said in the actual text of the report thank you thank you Russian Federation at this point I am in your hands this is your decision to be taken we have not a compromise solution on the table right now so it's your decision my proposal is on the table before I give the floor to Spain I would also like to clarify that it was my intention to preempt the decision or anything else actually disassociation was also included in the draft report this is where I found the reference and I made the proposal it wasn't my intention to go further than that with this I give the floor to Spain thank you chair we for our part would like to restate on behalf of the EU and its 27 member states that we continue to support the proposal already made thank you thank you Spain on behalf of the EU and its 27 member states for the support of the proposal I need to remind everyone that we need general consensus in order for this to fly so it's still not agreed at this moment at this point I would suggest we have another break and I would really call the Russian Federation and all the other interested parties to come together for the last chance of a compromise solution and you let me know if you succeed something before we proceed to the next step thank you meeting post and just before we break I just got a note that interpreters cannot go beyond six o'clock and that's the final time that they can be here and interpretate thank you ladies and gentlemen please take your seats we are ready to resume at this point I would like to kindly ask all the delegates to take their seats so that we can resume our session thank you so after our second post I would like to ask if the members have reached to an agreement or have any proposals any other views on this issue in order to come to a compromisation having Spain please thank you very much sir we would like to reach an agreement as I imagine all of you would as soon as possible nevertheless in order to make progress in our view the existing imbalance in that what was said during the statements by the European Union of the 27 member states and if I'm not mistaken the 26 member states was extremely clear and what is trying to be included as a part of the entire text is the view of one member state therefore we believe that the what the majority have said is what should appear in the main text if one member state to make a minority statement or expression and they have the right to do so that's fine and that's part of the basic texts of FAO we're happy to include that but we believe that to express the reality of what has happened we insist that this should form part of the text as a footnote thank you very much thank you Spain on behalf of the 27 member states Russian Federation please the only thing I'd like to add is that the rules of procedure of the European Commission on Agriculture are respectful of the opinion of the majority and the opinion of the minority so both need to be reflected in the body of the report itself and that is something on which we insist the delegation of the Russian Federation is indeed in a minority but we insist on this thank you okay seeing that the views have not changed and they're not going to change I would suggest that we take this to the next level which is vote according to the rules of procedure a roll call vote can be used for this occasion you will be informed by the elections officer about the details of the procedure in order to decide on if the proposal from the Russian delegation will be included as a paragraph or not according to the majority of their commission and the rules of procedure I would now like to call the elections officer and I would also like to call Miss Lidia Bobandonova the previous first vice chairperson and the next chairperson to take over because I have to catch a flight so I leave the hot potato and I leave thank you for your participation your support and I wish the best and a quick ending to the ECA session with a successful report in the end thank you so much and the best for me Mr. Chairperson and members of the commission it has been customary actually to bid farewell to the chairperson after the end of the session however you leave us before that but this is an appreciation of your stewardship of the executive committee your chair of the ECA and your association with the ECA and the XCOM in different capacities throughout more than 6 years thank you very much on behalf of the commission thank you so much great honor for me I love working in ECA and I have this is for those who do not reach compromises I really enjoyed working for the commission I wish all the best to the commission I have worked in all positions of this commission as a member, vice chairperson and the chairperson and I really enjoyed it please keep the work of the commission technical as technical as possible and wish you good deliberations thank you all before I leave and excuse me I would like to thank the secretary Mr. Nabil Ganji a big thing to Mr. Rachmanin as well who is not with us at the moment and also to my great asset I would say and friend Mr. Piro Prodacic Sophie, Enigo for their help and the excellent preparation of background documents throughout the XCOM in all these years you are in good hands thank you and all the best okay good afternoon all it was not supposed to be like this for me to have the hot potatoes from the very beginning I was told that it will be a very relaxed first meeting where we will be introduced to each other but this is the reality so we have to deal it I know that most of you are anxious to leave because of the flights this afternoon this evening in fact so I will just take over what I will just follow what Marius has already said and repeat in order to be clear so noting that the EU proposed for the Russian Federation minority views to be included in the footnote with the full statement in the annex and the text is I'm going to read it the commission noted the position of one member in relation to the impact of negative effects of unilateral coercive measures slash sanctions to regional and global food security so because we are going to proceed to the next level and that is voting as already said before the question has to be very clear the question is do you agree to add the text proposed by the Russian Federation as a paragraph in the report and now I will ask Mr. Ilyas to explain the Russian Federation please Thank you very much Madam Chair I'm delighted to welcome you in your new capacity in the chair but I would like to clarify with the secretariat or at least receive some explanation from the legal service as to whether the chair can put a proposal from a member say to include such and such a paragraph to a vote and who should actually do this Thank you Russian Federation your comment is noted so you will understand the need to consult for me about the text or the statement it's about how it should be included in the report is up to the members so the question it is how it is not whether it should be included so it's a difference between these two is it clear or we Thank you for the explanation I'd like to clarify where that is written where specifically that is written in the rules of procedure if I may Madam Chair the rules of procedure stipulate that minority views may be included in the report full stop it is up to the members and this is not me quoting it's up to the members how to include them regardless of whether they are included as a footnote, as a body, as an annex these are all forms and parts of the report the report in its entirety is up to the members but it includes in the rules of procedure that all the dissenting votes or minority views can be included in the report that is absolutely correct in accordance with the rules of procedure how it's articulated a footnote, or a body, or an annex this is up to the members in the session Thank you Thank you, Secretary for the explanation Once again, I would like to ask for you to read out the exact wording that we are now putting to the vote, thank you I'm going to repeat the whole thing noting that EU proposed for the Russian Federation minority views to be included in the footnote with the full statement in the annex then I would like to read the text the commission noted the position of one member in relation to the impact of negative effects of coercive measures, sanctions to regional and global foot security and now we go to the question do you agree to add the text proposed by the Russian Federation as a paragraph in the report in the report or in the body of the report Thank you Yes, thank you for the explanation Thank you Before we proceed I think we just need to make clear that should the vote will be no that means that it will be included in the footnote with the full statement in the annex Everyone agrees on that? Is everyone clear about that? Okay, thank you Now I will ask Ilya to explain the voting procedure Thank you Thank you Madam Chair Decisions dear delegates are taken by a majority of the votes cast and there were three modalities of voting The default setting for a vote is a show of hands A roll call vote could be considered but this will be triggered at the request of one member but we are assuming that we are going to vote by a show of hands Before we proceed to the vote on the proposal we need to establish again by rule that we have a quorum the quorum of the commission is a majority of the representatives that is a majority of the members who have registered for the session and I am going to briefly ask the secretariat to confirm the number that we saw ten minutes ago We have a presence of 23 members that is more than a majority of the representatives of the commission that means that we can proceed to the vote I have not received the request for a roll call vote we therefore proceed with the show of hands vote The proposal was whether or not you agree with the inclusion of the Russian statement the minority statement in a paragraph of the report I am first going to ask for the votes in favor I am then going to ask for the votes against and I am then going to ask for the abstentions in this vote Votes cast as you may recall includes the affirmative votes and the negative votes and it does not include the abstentions and on the basis of the votes cast we will determine what the majority is and on the basis of that what the outcome of this vote is When I ask you what your vote is going to be so first the affirmative votes I ask you to hold up your name plate to give an opportunity for the secretariat to count all these votes and after that I proceed to the no votes and after that abstentions I see there is a question Madam Chair Russian for the variation please My apologies Madam Chair could I ask for the conclusion of the legal advisor on this issue can the chair actually put this issue to a vote what has been in the legal advisor France please Thank you Chair should I speak in English or in French we don't We would prefer this to be by roll call thank you After the consultations we made we have the answer to the question of the Russian Federation and that is the membership may put anything to the vote as long as it is not in contravention with the basic text Russian Federation is that clear is that acceptable as an answer thank you and as for the request by France according to the rule 6 item number 3 any member of the commission may request a roll call vote in which case the vote of each member shall be recorded so the answer is yes the representative from France is outside on the phone but I believe that his colleague will ok France shall I repeat the simple answer is yes if you want me I can refer to the particular article but I don't think it's needed sorry chair I was checking with thank you Madam Chair sorry could we ask for a couple of minutes break please just please consider the time because most of the people as far as we are informed will be leaving soon and the interpreters have given us the deadline for 629 thank you to the interpreters for a third time ok can you please take your seats Russian Federation please thank you very much Madam Chair one member say the Russian Federation requested inclusion of specific language into the of the report that is our right and in this regard in our opinion this amendment this inclusion should be reflected on the screen and included in the text as that's not happening now we the Russian Federation officially request the conclusion of the legal advisor on this issue what is the legal advisor finding what's his conclusion on this issue thank you now I'm giving the floor to the elections officer to clarify the issue thank you Madam Chair I am not the legal advisor I used to be but not anymore my competence is not sitting here as legal advisor I am the elections officer from the governing bodies division however what the how this question should be addressed in light of the text of the rule and the question that was before is here I have a statement here from a colleague from the legal office the rule is clear and I quote the rule is clear that the report can include minority views how they should be included in the report is up to the members it seems that we have repeated what has been already done but however is the Russian Federation satisfied with the answer now well I'd like to express gratitude for the explanation from the secretariat but unfortunately no we're not satisfied and we want to receive specifically if necessarily on zoom the conclusion from the legal advisor we as a member state put forward a proposal which should be in the text and on a screen and if people don't agree with this then we might then have to engage in the rules of procedure but this issue has been put to the vote by the chair not by the member states so before that happens before that vote we're not prepared to embark upon the procedure for voting until we've had the opinion of the legal advisor thank you Russian Federation can you please come over here thank you for the text to be shown on the screen France please you have yes thank you chair just to say that I withdrew my request of a roll call and get back to the regular what you have proposed sorry thanks well noted thank you I think we are ready so the text is on the screen in red the commission noted the position of one member in relation to the impact of negative effects of unilateral coercive measures slash sanctions to regional and global food security so based on this the question for the European commission is do you agree to add the text proposed by the Russian Federation as a paragraph in the body of the reports is everyone clear now about the question and the text and we are going to connect to the legal council Spain please Spain please sorry sorry I do apologize but we understand that the voting procedure is being delayed artificially we've heard the proposal we've heard from the elections officer as to the situation we think that we should proceed to the vote thank you very much the interpreters have kindly given us extra time but we can't go on forever thank you I'm giving the floor to the legal office in Rome now please Spain please we'd like to note that in our view a legal opinion procedural situation has been sought the elections officer has conveyed the message directly received from the legal service of FAO in Rome we all have full faith in the elections officer to carry out his work he has conveyed the message therefore we don't think it's necessary to hear from the person who already had the text conveyed by the elections officer once again we'd like to insist we have full faith in the elections officer thank you very much thank you very much Madam Chair I have every respect for our elections officer and that's not even a matter of debate I just say that by way of that remark nonetheless I have a question which I would like to ask directly of the legal advisor on legal issues and as a member state I believe I have that right thank you Apologies from the Secretary to have a consortium of technical people trying to connect us with Zoom Hello can you hear me Yes we can Can you hear me now Can you hear us Can I interview now Yes Please Russian Federation go on with your question Okay thank you I'm sorry that the connection has not been very good and it took a while for me to enter into the meeting so I understand that the question is whether minority views can be included in the report to rule 8 of the rules to proceed of European Commission Agriculture paragraph 1 the commission shall approve a report embodying its views, recommendations and decisions including when requested a statement of minority views therefore the report can include minority views of the members how this is going to be reflected in the report is up to the members there is nothing for seeing in the rules so I hope this is clear thank you Can you please stay online Russian Federation Thank you very much legal advisor I hope you can hear me first of all I'd like to thank you for the explanation and I have a specific question now as a member state do I have the right to introduce a paragraph into the report in this case as the member state representing the minority I understand there is the same right and in that case my understanding my delegation such a right is being deprived we're being deprived of that right because it's only being allowed into the report if it's by consensus under this paragraph of the report we are basically being deprived of the right by way of an example I can give you an example from the FAO council sessions 169 171, 171, 172 sessions a number of countries at those sessions of the council made a proposal for a decision the decision was adopted by a majority and it was introduced and no one deprived them of that right to introduce something into the text in this case we feel we're being deprived of that right to introduce a paragraph into the report itself could I have an explanation on that issue I think our legal office has not heard the intervention because of the interpretation so if the Russian Federation would allow me to try to say in English to the legal office Marta are you with us Marta Marta are you with us is Marta online? Marta can you hear us Marta can you hear us Hello Marta Yes I can hear you Okay I will try as much as possible to translate what the Russian Federation's delegate has basically been asking which is and the delegate has quoted several examples from the council documents whereby when the forum in question whether it's commission or council have had a particular resolution or views and when there is dissenting or minority views by one or more members in that forum that their views their minority views were expressed in the report and the Russian Federation is claiming that by not being able to present its views minority being in the body of the report that the Russian Federation as a member state is being deprived of a right that they have as a member state with particular views that are different from the majority this is just basically a brief on how the question is and I leave myself in the hands of the Russian Federation whether it believes that this is an honest translation of a brief of what you have posed Yes Thank you that's all accurate Thank you perfectly accurate Marta this is to confirm that the Russian Federation has agreed that the interpretation that I have said is basically accurate to the question that was posed in the Russian language so this is the question you have here basically whether by requesting or by inputting the statement of the minority in a particular manner or the other whether it is deprives the member state from a right that they have to put their dissenting views or their minority views in the report in a particular form or the other thank you the floor is yours Marta Thank you Well as I said the commission and this is up to the commission the commission shall approve the report and the report should include the views of the commission and the decisions taken by the commission including a statement of minority views so I'm just reading the rule and this is the rule the report can include minority views according to the rules so this is as far as I can go thank you Thank you Marta Russian Federation is this the answer that you are expecting and you have asked for Spain please Thank you very much madam and congratulations and all the best for your new term I think we've heard the guarantee of all rights to Russian Federation so once again we'd like to insist on moving straight ahead with the vote please Okay we give the final word to the Russian Federation and then we proceed with voting Russian Federation please Thank you very much madam chair we would like to point out that in any event I'm going to make an official request to the legal advisor on this issue but we will not object now to a vote nonetheless we feel it's the right of each member state to include a paragraph in the report Thank you Thank you I'm giving the floor to the election officer Thank you madam chair as indicated earlier when we opened this procedure I'm going to ask the members present first if they are in favor of the proposal as it was articulated by the chairperson after that I will ask the members to raise their flag who are against the proposal and after that I'll ask for the abstentions when you raise your flag please keep it up so that the secretary has a chance to count can I see the flags of the members of the commission who are in favor of the proposal of the chairperson there is some confusion we mean the same thing the question articulated by the chairperson was do you agree with the inclusion of the text in the body of the report the text proposed by the russian federation should that be included in the report do you agree with that if you agree with that please show me your signs one member in favor of the proposal thank you can I now see the nine plates of the members who are not in favor of the proposal to include in the body of the report we count 17 is there a member of the commission who wishes to abstain in this vote thank you that concludes the vote there is a majority of the votes cast in favor of the proposal thank you sorry I completely misspoke the proposal has not been adopted the results are clear and we move to the adoption of the report are there any other comments ok russian federation please thank you very much madam chair I would like to clarify in this case the voting was on including our proposal in the text of the report could we now have clarification regarding a footnote because that was not put to a vote thank you so the text that was on the screen will be put in the footnote with the full statement in the annex as we previously said before proceeding with the voting is that clear thank you madam chair if this text will be reflected in a footnote we would like to have it reflected in the footnote that it wasn't just one member state it was the russian federation that expressed the position on the impact of unilateral coercive sanctions fine well noted thank you ok russian federation please thank you very much madam chair in this regard and we would like to put to the vote paragraph 22b in the draft report my apologies as the speaker I meant to say 22c 22c should be put to a vote please thank you Spain please dear madam chair speaking on behalf of the EU and its 27 member states would like a proposal to be made to call for adoption of the report as a whole as it is and given the situation we think it's the clear expression of the majority of the members of the committee so we'd like that proposal to come from the chair please so we have a new proposal and I would like to ask the members the commission does the commission agree with the adoption of the report as it is now ok can you please articulate that clearly or show your hands no just show hands show in a way that you are in favor of this proposal thank you russian federation please thank you very much madam chair the russian federation calls for the whole report to be put to a vote please we have a question that we would like to address to the russian federation does that mean that the russian federation doesn't agree on the adoption of the report and block the russian federation is requesting the whole report be put to a vote fine I'm giving the floor to the election officer again for the vote thank you madam chairperson we are in the presence of a call for a vote we will proceed to a vote as indicated by the chairperson before proceeding to a vote as per the rules again we need to establish that we have a quorum I'm going to ask Sofia please bear with us while we count the number of members that are present at this moment as we need to reach a quorum of a majority of the representatives of the commission that is a majority of the members registered for this session I'll give some time to the secretary to count the numbers thank you we have 19 representatives present in the room we have 41 registered members for this session that means that 19 is not sufficient for a quorum to proceed to a vote at this point thank you back to you chair so as we cannot go for the vote so the only option we are left now is to adopt the report unblocked Russian Federation please thank you very much madam chair I'd like to receive some explanation as to whether that's actually possible so we are left with many choices the only one is to close this item without adopted report and then to go through it on an extraordinary session or special session dedicated to this maybe on the next session of the ECA but I believe that maybe sooner it will be better yeah any comments on this proposal this is an unfortunate situation we are dealing with but that is the reality so if you have any comments or opinions please let us know pain yes thank you very much madam indeed we fully agree with you that this is a very unfortunate situation it would have been possible to approve the report as a whole with all of the countries requirements within the final report all of the statements and all of the texts to be included in the report were within the report be it with a footnote because let's recall as the secretariat informed us a footnote forms part of a report and the commission took note of that we agree that there has been or we believe that there has been an excessive delay on purpose to the proceedings and once again we insist on the fact that this is extremely unfortunate there was an attempt to include or deal with all of the technical issues during the proceedings that hasn't been possible please rely on our support to continue in the most appropriate manner possible and as soon as possible we agree with the chair that this should be done as soon as possible thank you Spain Russian Federation please thank you very much madam chair we are also disappointed with the outcome of today's meeting and we understand that a number of delegations have become accustomed to adopting reports on block but in this case it's our legitimate right to comply with legal formalities and we called for a vote and there was no quorum so we also regret it but we agree with your decision as chair thank you thank you Russian Federation Spain are you in please Mr. Mapp dear madam chair we do apologise for taking the floor again but I'd just like to clarify that what is pending is the approval of the report in full as drafted as it is now this the proceedings have been halted because of a lack of quorum at this time and therefore when there is an extraordinary session of or whatever you believe appropriate this should be put to the vote and that should be the end of it thank you very much exactly Spain thank you very much so yeah and this was a very challenging day and ok Spain again just briefly we'd like to thank the interpreters for their work thank the previous chairman and the new chair for their work and also thank all of the colleagues for their work and of course the Hungarian government thank you very much Spain we were supposed to say the same and I yes of course so I also thank you the ACA members for your patience for your persistence for your constructive contribution and participation not just today but over the last two days I would on behalf of the secretariat and XCOM address special thanks to the interpreters who are supporting us very generously thank you so much once again according to the rules of procedure we were supposed to have a short meeting of the newly elected chairperson vice chairpersons and the members of the XCOM but I believe it's too late now so maybe we will communicate maybe it's better to communicate it in return after the we close the session do you agree with that Piotr? yes thank you very much madam chair and the intention of of the secretariat and the chairperson was too organized to hold a short informative meeting of the newly elected members of the executive committee however it is late indeed so it may be very difficult so the suggestion would be that either we would have the short meeting online or we simply move on to a formal meeting of the executive committee which would probably be held in November this year thank you very much thank you Piotr Russian Federation again please thank you very much madam chair I would also like to clarify regarding the next session we are talking about in principle putting the report to a vote and not the question of adopting it on block or not on block I understand that is the case it's just a question of putting it having a vote on the report irrespective of whether it's on block or not on block Russian Federation thank you for the clarification it will be up to the members to decide that thank you with this I believe that we are ready to close the session I thank you all for your constructive contribution I wish you all the best very nice evening or safe trip back home and we are keen to see you soon thank you