The overarching European farmers' association COPA-COGECA is calling for a postponement of the new Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy due to the increasing pressure farmers are facing because of the current coronavirus crisis. The organization advocates for a 'reconsideration' of the Green Deal. Environmental groups speak of a turnaround.
In a letter to Norbert Lins, chair of the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee (AGRI), COPA-COGECA Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen states that “farmers, forest owners, and their cooperatives are being placed in an increasingly difficult situation.” According to the farmers' lobby, the coronavirus crisis now has “rapid and negative consequences for the agriculture and forestry sector, both in the short and long term.” He adds that this crisis potentially jeopardizes both the internal market and international markets, putting supply chains, jobs, and ultimately the EU’s food security at risk.
The letter calls on MEPs to postpone “decisions made without proper and adequate reflection.” Previously, the farmers' clubs supported the proposed policy. The F2F is part of the EU’s new Climate Policy, the Green Deal. This flagship initiative of new European Vice-President Frans Timmermans aims to make the entire food chain, from production to consumption, more sustainable and environmentally neutral.
COPA-COGECA says the current crisis leads to significant disruption of farmers and that the introduction of new restrictive F2F measures would be an additional blow. He added that until now COPA-COGECA has supported the Green Deal and the F2F, but that under these new circumstances this strategy will add “further restrictions” without providing a suitable alternative for farmers.
Since the Farm to Fork approach will also have “considerable economic, social and environmental impacts,” the letter urges the European Commission to take another close look at the foundations of the new policy plans. It calls for a “preliminary impact assessment” for both the F2F and the entire Green Deal before any political or regulatory decision is made. This would mean further postponement of the new plans, after it was previously decided to delay the presentation of the new strategy until the end of April.
The European People's Party (EPP) group called a week ago for further postponement of the Farm to Fork strategy (F2F) at least until after the summer, citing the coronavirus. Henriette Christensen, senior policy advisor at Pesticide Action Network Europe, said the advocated impact assessment could take at least a year. Furthermore, she stated the EU should first finalize the new Common Agricultural Policy and only afterwards decide on the allocation of the €60 billion in CAP subsidies. Doing it the other way around makes no sense, according to the environmental group.
Earlier this week, it became clear that negotiators from the 27 EU governments and coordinators of the EU Agriculture Committee have reached an agreement on an emergency procedure for the payment of CAP subsidies for next year, 2021. This would mean that the two EU policy-making and legislative bodies, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, are already anticipating further postponement of the new CAP policy, including the announced subsidy cuts.
Next week, an extraordinary meeting of the EP Agriculture Committee will be held in Brussels, mainly focused on decisions regarding the coronavirus crisis. According to the committee’s agenda, it is also possible that decisions on further postponement will be made.
What Vice-President Frans Timmermans and Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski think about the requested reassessment is still unknown. However, they have recently stated they stand by their new policy plans and intend to present them as soon as possible.
But it is now clear that the European meeting circuit is more or less at a standstill until after the summer recess. Moreover, it has also become evident that the 27 heads of government and finance ministers are far from agreeing on the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, and thus also not yet on possible cuts to CAP subsidies.
Possibly, the EU Commissioners are already accounting for the consequences of a further ‘administrative delay,’ as evidenced by an announcement earlier this week by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She announced earlier this week that the European Commission will come forward with ‘new proposals’ for adjustments to the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework by the end of April.