With the support of extreme right and nationalist groups, EPP group leader Manfred Weber continues the dismantling of the climate-friendly 'farm to fork' food strategy of former Commissioner Frans Timmermans. He already announced this last week at the EPP congress in Valencia.
The Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament will vote Monday evening in an extraordinary session on stricter rules for Ukrainian agricultural imports. This puts pressure on the European Commission, which must make a decision before June 5 on a new methodology for the low import tariffs on Ukrainian food and agricultural products.
On Monday evening, the Agriculture Committee will also discuss a legislative proposal on higher customs duties on the import of fertilizers from Russia and Belarus. The vote comes at a time when European farmers have been protesting for months in vain against EU rules and imports from Ukraine.
Within the European Commission, work is currently underway on a major simplification package for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). According to insiders, this package will be presented on May 14.
This also clarifies that the discussion around import duties for Ukraine and the future European agricultural policy influence each other. Farmers' organizations want less competition from Ukrainian products and less environmental pressure from the EU. The vote in the Agriculture Committee therefore comes at a politically sensitive moment.
The European Commission is considering removing the obligation for EU countries to adapt their national strategic agricultural plans to European climate and environmental legislation. Rules for permanent grassland and peatland areas would also be relaxed. Moreover, there would be fewer inspection visits by agricultural inspectors to farms.
This is not going far enough for many agriculture ministers in the EU countries; there are open calls to reverse the Nature Restoration Law adopted last year. But it is the Environment Ministers who decide on this. Also, center-right groups in the EP have proposed partially or fully suspending the Habitats Directive. According to them, this is necessary among other reasons to weaken the protected status of the wolf so that hunting can be reopened.
At the same time, not all proposals for relaxation are supported unanimously. From leaked documents and media reports, it appears some EU countries want to maintain the previous climate targets. The European Commission might weaken the objectives of the Green Deal in the upcoming package, although no final decision has been made yet.
Various European media already speak of a “major retreat” of European climate policy.