French MEPs from the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament are calling on the European Commission to go “faster and further” in supporting the agricultural sector in response to the crisis caused by Covid-19.
“As a matter of urgency, aid for private storage must be extended to the poultry and veal sectors; a solution must also be found for sheep and goat meat already in storage and for the storage or redirection of processed potatoes”, write MEPs in a letter to Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski, dated Monday 25 May.
They also believe it is necessary to channel “additional European funds towards certain sectors that have been particularly hard hit, such as horticulture”. And to ask for a European “compensation fund” to support the wine sector, for which “the effects of the crisis come on top of those from the American tariff sanctions”.
In the longer term, MEPs call for a reflection on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy and the means needed to enable it to meet environmental and climate challenges.
It will also be necessary “to have the courage to redefine our European trade policy” through “the treatment of sensitive agricultural and food products”, as well as “the promotion and defence of our standards and production conditions in free trade agreements”, stress the elected representatives, who are concerned with the conclusion of the EU/Mexico free trade agreement in the midst of a crisis (see EUROPE 12476/13).
See the letter (in French): https://bit.ly/2ZQpNkO (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)