On Wednesday (May 20), the European Commission will present the long-awaited Green Deal climate policy, simultaneously with a new vision on food safety and biodiversity.
The plans will be presented in Brussels by Vice-President Frans Timmermans and Commissioner Kyriakides, who is responsible for Health (food safety, medicines, etc.). The presentation of the plans has been postponed several times, and there is still no agreement at the European level on the financing of these far-reaching plans.
This delay is partly related to the question of how much money should be allocated for the corona mega-fund and how the EU multiannual budget 2021-2027 should be adjusted accordingly. As a result, the 27 EU Commissioners and the EU governments have yet to agree on how extensive and costly the Green Deal should or must be.
Promotion
Derived from this, it is also still unclear how large the new agricultural budget can be. From the German-French compromise on future EU financing reached yesterday by Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, it can be inferred that the current social and economic structural funds, rural investments, agricultural subsidies, and other EU financial flows will be 'repurposed' into more targeted Green Deal payments. Previous remarks from Polish Agriculture Commissioner Wojciechowski have suggested that he wants to shift EU subsidy funds from 'hectares and tonnage of agro-industry' to the incomes of farming families.
The Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy, as part of the European Green Deal, is a spearhead of the current European Commission. EU Commissioner Kyriakides believes that agriculture must adapt to stricter climate and health rules and that consumers must change their consumption behavior. According to her, continuing in the current way is not an option.
Although the policy explicitly affects European farmers and horticulturists, the role of European Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski in the new policy is limited. He contributes, but Commissioner Stella Kyriakides (Food Safety and Health) takes the lead. She reports to Climate Commissioner Frans Timmermans.
The draft version states that European directives will be established setting targets for how much the use of chemical pesticides and artificial fertilizers must be reduced by 2030. According to unconfirmed reports, the goal is to reduce pesticide use by half by 2030.
An official note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague shows that the Dutch government broadly supports the new European climate policy. The Netherlands agrees with the introduction of stricter criteria for CO2 air pollution and the reduction of pesticide use. The Dutch cabinet says it is committed to a gradual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Furthermore, the Netherlands notes that the regulation proposed by the Commission has been received mostly positively by the EU member states. With broad support, the proposal appears to have a good chance of success. Like the Netherlands, a number of member states also support the inclusion of a tightened 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target.