MEPs sitting on the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee acknowledged on Thursday 4 March that producers had been “resilient” during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, but some sectors were coming out of the crisis in a very weakened state; these were the sad facts given during a debate on the situation of agricultural markets.
The representative from the European Commission noted in particular a “sharp rise in feed prices”.
Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italy) spoke about the problems facing the wine market. “We must provide help to these sectors that are suffering, such as wine and restaurants”, he added.
Norbert Lins (EPP, Germany), the chair of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, conceded that the pork sector was beginning to “see the light at the end of the tunnel”.
According to Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, Germany), the milk sector is not faring so well.
Zbigniew Kuźmiuk (ECR, Poland) spoke about the difficulties facing the poultry sector.
The delicate situation in the veal sector was also highlighted by Annie Schreijer-Pierik (EPP, the Netherlands).
Anne Sander (EPP, France) asked the European Commission to help the beef sector, and Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe, France) spoke about the problems faced by the cheese and wine sectors.
“Wine and red meat should not be criminalised”, said Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy), making reference to the European Commission’s cancer action plan, which intends to reduce EU aid for promoting products that are deemed less sustainable.
Trade. “We must ensure that agriculture will not be a pawn in trade negotiations with non-Member States”, said Elsi Katainen (Renew Europe, Finland). She asked the Commission about the sustainability aspects of the trade agreement agreed with Mercosur countries (relating to fertilisers, pesticides, antibiotics).
Ivan David (ID, the Czech Republic) criticised the European Commission’s target of devoting 25% of farmland to organic farming. “There is no corresponding demand”, he said.
Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spain) expressed concerns about the Spanish tomato sector, “as a result of the agreement with Morocco” (Moroccan tomato quotas). She also joined others in denouncing the South African anti-dumping duties imposed on poultry shipments from the EU. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)