On 18 April, at the European Council meeting in Brussels attended by the leaders of all member states, two decisions put forward by the Ministry of Agriculture were adopted, and they will have a positive impact on Latvian agriculture and food production. The European Commission has been tasked with assessing and proposing solutions for raising the de minimis threshold, which in the current economic situation in agriculture sets limits on state aid that are too low and too restrictive. Only a few member states supported such a step, yet Latvia's interest was heard and included in the joint text of the member state leaders' conclusions. This is a highly significant decision for boosting economic activity in agriculture.

The second important European Council decision provides for increasingly restricting unwanted imports into the EU of agricultural and food products from the aggressor states Russia and Belarus. Provisionally, more and more Russian and Belarusian products will be subject to considerably higher import tariffs. Following an initiative by Minister for Agriculture Armands Krauze, Latvia was initially the first and only country to press for the adoption of such an EU decision. As a result, a package of measures has already been adopted at EU level that will restrict the morally unacceptable and economically distorting imports of agricultural products from the aggressor states into the EU and Latvia.

The adoption of both these decisions reflects professional and successful work in representing the national interest, demonstrating Latvia's role and its ability to influence EU decisions over the 20 years since Latvia became an EU member state.