Frans Timmermans, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, told the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture on Thursday 7 May that he would not be postponing presentation of the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy. It should therefore be adopted by the European Commission “on 20 May”, he said. However, according to sources, it could be postponed for a week.
He also assured MEPs that the agricultural sectors most seriously affected by the crisis will not be forgotten in the recovery plan currently being finalised by the Commission.
CAP budget. Timmermans was very vague on the future budget for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as the Commission is working on it as part of the presentation of the revised Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027. “We have not yet made a decision on the CAP budget”, he said in response to questions from MEPs.
He also recommended that CAP money should reach “smallholdings and farmers who get their hands dirty”.
Timmermans indicated that the Commission would be presenting a strategy on forests. “Planting trees, increasing the number of carbon sinks, allowing the tourism sector to work differently, and increasing wood production, for the construction sector, for example” are some of the options to be considered.
Timmermans also felt that “more” needed to be done about greening farm subsidies, where lessons could be drawn from the second pillar (rural development) and applied to the first pillar using eco-schemes.
Recovery plan. The agriculture sector is being hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis and “the most seriously affected parts should be able to benefit from support measures in the recovery plan”, the Vice-President said. The focus will be on SMEs, he added.
Resilience. The Vice-President stressed that, after the crisis, the EU's resilience must be increased. We will therefore have to reduce our dependence on imports from outside the EU by increasing productive capacity in Europe and by improving biotopes. The Vice-President of the ‘European Green Deal’ also said he was in favour of developing “local production”. But a balance needs to be struck between increasing Europe's resilience and “total protectionism, which would be a mistake”, he said.
Consultations. He believes that it is therefore now time to present the ‘biodiversity’ and ‘Farm to Fork’ strategies. He noted that consultation had taken place on the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy, and more than 600 responses had been received.
The consultation will continue after the strategy is presented and “no concrete proposals will be made without a genuine impact study”, Timmermans promised.
Climate. Agriculture is a priority, but, he stressed, the climate crisis is not going to go away. The Vice-President warned that, “if we do not respond to the climate and biodiversity crises, agriculture will be the hardest-hit sector”.
Pesticides. Timmermans said new technology and digitisation should help farmers be more accurate and “use less pesticide”. There must be support for research to find “the best crops, and the best cultivation methods”.
Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italy) asked for the debate on the Farm to Fork strategy to be postponed until the autumn.
Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy) said that low levels of EU funding would force Member States to intervene and distort competition.
Ulrike Müller (Renew Europe, Germany) believes that the requirement to reduce pesticides by 50% risks “calling into question the ability to produce high quality food”.
Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, Germany) said that quicker progress needed to be made with the Farm to Fork strategy and that “a new CAP needs to be devised”.
Zbigniew Kuźmiuk (ECR, Poland) spoke about the fall in farmers’ incomes if they were required to reduce their use of pesticides and fertilisers. He called for a “minimum 10%” increase in the post-2020 CAP budget to provide the means to implement the ‘European Green Deal’.
Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe, France) added that “I ask you not to turn a deaf ear to requests for support from a range of sectors, including wine, fruit and vegetables, horticulture, and veal”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)