The European Commission has decided to delay two key components of the Green Deal by at least one year. The expansion of organic farming and the farm-to-fork food safety strategy will come into effect no earlier than 2022.
First, Commissioners Frans Timmermans (Green Deal), Stella Kyriakides (Food Safety), and Janusz Wojciechowski (Agriculture) will conduct an EU-wide public consultation on the matter.
The delay responds to requests from various EU countries, Members of the European Parliament, and agricultural organizations. The EU countries point out that no decision has yet been made on the multiannual budget—and therefore neither on the Green Deal budget nor on AGRI funding.
MEPs and agricultural organizations emphasize especially that the coherence between the Green Deal plans and the Common Agricultural Policy has yet to be sufficiently developed.
The European Commission has now launched a public consultation on its future action plan for organic farming. This sector is expected to play an important role in achieving the ambitions of the European Green Deal and the Farm-to-Fork and Biodiversity strategies. The public consultation aims to collect feedback on the draft plan from citizens, national authorities, and relevant stakeholders. The questionnaire is online for 12 weeks, until November 27.
It remains unclear whether the entire Green Deal plan will be postponed by one year (from 2021 to 2022), or only these two elements. Given the unapproved budgets, the ongoing negotiations on a new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the extensive parliamentary review needed, a full Green Deal delay is very likely. This will probably become clear as early as next month, when European political groups and MEP committees reconvene in Brussels and Strasbourg after the summer recess.
The postponement was originally requested by member states, the European Parliament, third countries, and other stakeholders due to the complexity and importance of the legislation being prepared. As a result of the coronavirus crisis, work on the secondary legislation has been delayed. The delay now allows sufficient time for the necessary thorough consultations and legislative scrutiny.
EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski said: “The farm-to-fork and biodiversity strategies set ambitious goals for the agricultural sector to prepare it for the Green Deal. Organic farming will be an important ally in this transition. The Commission will support the organic sector in achieving the target of 25% agricultural land under organic farming by 2030. The forthcoming future action plan for organic farming will be an important tool in this effort.”