To support the pork sector, the European Commission must allocate advertising budgets and carry out promotional actions to open up new sales markets. Brussels should also intervene in the EU market with a buy-back scheme.
This is written by Norbert Lins, chairman of the Agricultural Committee of the European Parliament, to AGRI Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski.
The European Commission has repeatedly rejected such requests in recent months. The highest civil service level of the commission argued last week that Brussels has no practical, financial, or legal means to intervene in a targeted manner. Many EU countries also believe that Brussels should somehow come forward with additional funding.
The letter from Lins has not yet been discussed or voted on substantively in the AGRI committee, but it will be addressed in the regular meeting on Wednesday (February 2). Lins writes his letter "with the agreement of the majority of the groups in the committee." EU Commissioner Wojciechowski rejects intervention because, according to him, it is not an agricultural issue affecting the pig sector, but a macro-financial-economic one.
Lins points out that in several EU countries the pig sector is on the verge of collapse, causing the industry to survive only in a few countries. “Continuously doing nothing [...] would lead to a concentration of pork production, with all the negative consequences for the environment, climate, and regionalization. This stands in sharp contrast to our Green Deal and Farm to Fork objectives and ambitions,” the letter warns.
Lins also notes that national measures for rural development or state aid [...] are not the most suitable to address the situation. Lins emphasizes that “the time has come for the European Commission to strongly support the sector through non-discriminatory (= applicable to all countries – ed.) activities for new sales markets, as well as market intervention at the EU level. Everything should also be done to contain and eradicate the current outbreak of African swine fever.”