European Commissioner Frans Timmermans emphasized that as Vice-President and Climate Commissioner of the European Commission, he is responsible for all European climate aspects, including those related to agriculture. The consequences of agricultural policy fall within the Green Deal package, just like emissions from transport, shipping, or the economy.
This also applies to Farm to Fork, he made clear on Thursday during the monthly meeting of the ENVI environment committee of the European Parliament.
Last week, Timmermans held extensive consultations in Brussels with the Dutch Minister of Agriculture Henk Staghouwer. The meeting with Staghouwer was an initial introduction. The two officials discussed, among other things, the European progress on Farm to Fork, and the developments regarding the Dutch CAP and other agricultural dossiers.
The Dutch EU commissioner criticized the renewed calls by some European politicians in the ENVI committee to postpone the Green Deal, the CAP agricultural policy, and the food strategy in view of the Russian war in Ukraine.
“Those who have not liked Farm to Fork from the start are now using the war as a pretext to revert to their old positions and try to stop F2F again,” he noted.
The European agricultural umbrella group Copa-Cogeca and the Dutch LTO have also urged European and Dutch authorities to relax European environmental regulations within agriculture, due to pressure on the global food supply.
On Thursday afternoon, Timmermans also criticized Members of the European Parliament who give the impression that food shortages are looming in Europe. Timmermans said that grain shortages in Africa and the Middle East are primarily caused by market mechanisms.
“This is not a matter of shortages on world markets. It is a logistics and financial problem; it is not a problem of food availability,” he said.
“If we do not understand that Farm to Fork is an attempt to save agriculture, not to punish it, in light of the devastating effects of biodiversity loss and climate change on global food production, then we really have the wrong attitude.”
“Let me be very clear about Farm to Fork, biodiversity, and agriculture. The core of EU climate policy is and remains the energy transition already set in motion. The war in Ukraine has only increased the urgency for this energy transition. I believe most politicians and almost all EU countries agree with me on that.”
Timmermans also announced that the European Commission will come forward with proposals for nature restoration plans in June, as part of the 2030 biodiversity pact.