EU member states should reshape their land policies to provide better access to land for new farmers, tackle the dominant position of big players and do away with land speculation, the European Parliament agriculture committee stated on Tuesday 21 March.
The committee voted by 34 to 2, with 6 abstentions to adopt the own initiative report by Maria Noichl (S&D, Germany) on farmland concentration in the European Union and how to facilitate access to land for farmers. The agriculture committee also calls for EU-wide monitoring and information exchange on land prices and rents and a cap on payments for big farms.
“We call on the European Commission to publish a set of criteria which clearly lines out what the common market rules allow when it comes to regulating the land market policies in the EU member states”, said Noichl. She added that, in the purchase of land, priority had to be given to young farmers and new entrants into farming while effectively controlling land transactions for purely speculative purposes. “We need to prevent a buy-out of agricultural land”, she emphasised. Her report will be put to a vote in plenary session on 27 April.
Tackling land speculation. Farmland should receive special protection that would allow EU states to regulate its sale, use and lease, without prejudice to the four fundamental EU freedoms, says the report. The Commission should consider a moratorium on ongoing land acquisition proceedings to assess whether national legislation on farmland trading complies with EU laws, according to the committee. It also suggests that member states use their tax laws to regulate land markets and prevent speculative land transactions. Lastly, land market policies should be designed to prevent dominant positions being built up on land markets, the committee states. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)