Malta's specific situation in agriculture was today acknowledged by the European Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos who said he believed this could be integrated in the EU's future agricultural policy.

Speaking during a visit to a cow farm this afternoon, Mr Ciolos, who was accompanied by Rural Affairs Minister George Pullicino, said Malta's situation was extraordinary with very small farms and specific products. So the EU's future system of financial support would also be taking this into consideration.

Malta, he said, needed more support than other EU countries to encourage young people to work in agriculture.

He noted that the system of direct payments in Malta was among the highest in the EU and denied that there were plans to reduce such payments to a third of the current level.

This level of direct payments, he said, would remain very high but the country also needed to better utilise the rural development programme and invest more in agriculture.

For although direct subsidies were important, it was also important to invest in quality and in the modernisation of farming.

There was more to the common agricultural policy than subsidies, it was also about financial support for investment and nmodernisation, Mr Ciolos said.