Brussels, 18/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on 15 September, many members of the European Parliament argued that the European Commission should present a legislative proposal to guarantee a better balance of powers within the EU food chain, at a debate of the committee on agriculture of the European Parliament.
The committee on agriculture of the European Parliament will return its opinion on the issue in November, when it will forward its opinion to the parliamentary committee on the single market and consumer protection which, as leading committee on this dossier, will vote in December or early next year.
The “unfair practices farmers have been victims of”
The rapporteur of the opinion of the committee on agriculture, Irish Christian Democrat Mairead McGuinness, criticised the “range of unfair practices which farmers have been victims of because they are the least powerful in the food supply chain”. Calling for “framework legislation at EU level” to tackle this, she recognised that this approach “might cause the most debate”. “We have many different ideas in member states” and “perhaps we need more coordination on the EU level”, she added. In the supply chain, there is a great imbalance between the powers of farmers and retailers in many member states.
Several members of the parliamentary committee also called for the adoption of legislation to fight unfair commercial practices, among them Ulrike Müller (ALDE, Germany) and Alyn Smith (Greens/EFA, UK). However, others expressed misgivings. First of all, we need to make sure that farmers are fully involved in the voluntary food chain initiative launched at EU level, argued Paul Brannen (S&D, UK). “If we get it right, I do not think there is necessarily a need for legislation”, he said. He called for a certification scheme at EU level, showing citizens that farmers have received a fair price. Richard Ashworth (ECR, UK) is unconvinced that the problem can be solved through EU legislation.
Fair and transparent relations. This debate aimed to prepare the European Parliament's response to the communication of the European Commission of July 2014 on ways to tackle unfair commercial practices in the food supply chain.
According to the draft report of the Parliamentary committee on the single market and consumer protection, drawn up by Dawid Bohdan Jackiewicz (ECR, Poland), there first of all needs to be a “clear, specific and binding definition of unfair trade practices”. According to this draft report, the Commission should also “propose, in the legislation of the Union, specific provisions prohibiting unfair trade practices in the food supply chain and aiming to guarantee the proper functioning of the markets as well as fair and transparent relations between producers, suppliers and distributors of food”. (Lionel Changeur)