On Friday 13 November, leading members of the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture wrote to Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, to protest about the “contradictory positions” with regard to the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). On Monday 16 November, during their videoconference meeting, the EU agriculture ministers also asked the Commission to clarify its position on the ongoing negotiation process.
The authors of the letter, all from the EPP group, including Herbert Dorfmann (Italy), Norbert Lins (Germany, Chair of the Committee on Agriculture) and the CAP rapporteurs Peter Jahr and Anne Sander, are angry about statements made by Frans Timmermans, the Commission executive vice-president responsible for the European Green Deal, who threatened to withdraw the CAP proposal if the negotiations were likely to weaken the policy’s environmental objectives.
The MEPs pointed out that Von der Leyen indicated on 30 October that she was not considering withdrawing the proposal.
The MEPs called for normal decision-making procedures to be respected, by means of the negotiations between institutions, which have already begun (see EUROPE 12601/3).
On 13 November, a Commission spokesperson said that Timmermans “mentioned the possibility” of withdrawing the proposal. “That doesn’t mean that we are already negotiating in this manner. We are still in discussions with both the Council of the EU and the European Parliament to introduce green objectives into the CAP”.
Clarification at the Agriculture Council meeting. At the Agriculture Council meeting on Monday 16 November, during a debate on the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy, the Greek Agriculture minister also protested about the statements made by Timmermans. Greece requested that the current CAP negotiations continue. Hungary supported Greece’s comments.
France called for the positions of the Council of the EU and the European Parliament and the “democratic process” to be respected.
Croatia felt that the Commission needs to remove “legal uncertainties”.
Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said that the Commission did not wish to withdraw its CAP proposal.
Julia Klöckner, the President of the Council of the EU, felt that the Council of the EU’s position had taken account of this strategy and she will send Timmermans a letter to that effect.
France also mentioned efforts to tackle food fraud and “consistency in trade policy”.
The Commission presented the results of the 15-16 October conference on the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy. The German Presidency also provided an update on preparations for the UN 2021 Food Systems Summit and presented ministers with conclusions on the post-2020 EU Forest Strategy. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)