On the initiative of Jérémy Decerle (Renew Europe, France), a letter signed by MEPs from several political groups (EPP, S&D and Renew Europe) on the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee was sent to Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, on Thursday 16 April, asking her to release financial resources to farmers who are suffering because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The MEPs call on von der Leyen not to forget “agriculture and agri-food on the grounds that the sector is able to continue operating more than other sectors”, while the crisis continues. They call for financial resources for farmers to be found “in the unused margins beneath the ceiling of the European agricultural budget” (see EUROPE 12467/11).
MEPs want market measures to be activated (private storage and crisis distillation). The letter also emphasises the need to facilitate all efforts to “steer production to new markets, or reduce it” in a targeted manner. This is to “prevent surpluses from constraining markets”.
On trade, the letter says that "the Commission must now show decency by removing from its agenda for the time being any continuation of agriculture-sensitive trade negotiations".
The think tank Farm Europe has also sent a letter (https://bit.ly/34HT69N ) to the President of the Commission, asking her to protect the agriculture budget. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)