Despite opposition from at least 19 EU countries, the European Commission still plans to abolish the EU subsidy for most meat products and wine. The Netherlands is the only EU member state that fully agrees with the new direction to focus food advertising budgets more on 'healthy and sustainable' products.
Last month it was announced that the European Commission no longer wants to spend money on 'advertising for red meat and wine'. In doing so, the Commission aligns closely with a recent European Parliament resolution which — in the fight against cancer — called for encouraging the consumption of 'healthier foods'.
At the monthly meeting of European agriculture ministers this past Monday in Brussels, 19 ministers strongly argued for maintaining the current criteria. Some countries had even written official protest letters against the new advertising policy.
As a result, Commissioners Sinkevicius (Environment), Kyriakides (Health), and Wojciechowski (Agriculture) find themselves caught between the opposing views of the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The problem for both lawmakers is that budgets within approved frameworks are under the Commission’s authority, meaning it can decide on its own.
Dutch Minister Henk Staghouwer was the only one to express disagreement with the pleas of his 19 counterparts. The Netherlands supports the Commission in aligning its advertising budgets more closely with the new course of the Green Deal, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the farm-to-fork strategy.
The focus should be shifted to 'more sustainable', Staghouwer emphasized. He also pointed out that since 2014, the Netherlands has held that advertising budgets should primarily be the responsibility of the industry itself.
Both at the end of the roundtable discussions and afterwards during the closing press conference, French Chair Julien Denormandie put Commissioner Wojciechowski under considerable verbal pressure by concluding that the Council of Ministers was 'almost unanimous' and that the European Commission should not make exceptions for meat and wine.
Denormandie stated in response to questions from a French reporter that only one country opposes European ‘advertising for red meat’, without naming the Netherlands. Wojciechowski did not indicate that he would withdraw the proposal.