The 27 EU Agriculture Ministers can discuss on Tuesday with Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski his plan for additional income support to farmers. Last Friday, he proposed allocating 1.4 billion euros from the second pillar of the EU rural development fund to compensate for expensive energy and fertilizer.
This additional support still needs to be approved by the Agriculture Ministers and the European Parliament through an accelerated procedure. Earlier, Brussels had already released 500 million euros from the agricultural emergency fund. The topic is not on the official agenda but will be treated as a ‘current issue’.
This will also apply to the unexpected ministerial change in France. Last weekend, the current Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie was replaced by newcomer Marc Fesneau. He will lead the EU meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, as one of his first official acts. It will also be his last meeting as chair because, as of 1 July, the Czech Republic will take over the rotating EU presidency from France.
On Tuesday, the Agriculture Ministers will also seek clarification from Commissioner Wojciechowski about the plan for an ‘independent’ European energy policy presented Wednesday by Frans Timmermans.
To reduce the EU’s dependency on fossil fuels, especially from Russia, Brussels wants to significantly increase biogas production. Timmermans sees a role for new developments in rural areas, about which Wojciechowski has also expressed positive views previously.
To be able to produce 35 billion cubic meters extra in a few years, Brussels estimates that 37 billion euros will be needed. Brussels wants to largely finance this from reserves of the large corona recovery fund. According to Timmermans, the EU countries may also use 7.5 billion euros from the second pillar of the CAP for financing.
However, not everyone in the European arena responds positively to this. For example, German Green Agriculture Minister Cem Ă–zdemir struggles with the question of whether agricultural land may only be used for human food production, or also for animal feed, or also for fuel for energy generation.
And influential German MEP Simone Schmiedtbauer (EPP) believes that in Brussels, Climate or Environment (and in this case: Energy) should have no say over CAP money.