On Monday 15 November in Brussels, the EU agriculture ministers once again requested an impact study on the potential effects of the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy on food security.
They also demanded that imported agricultural products meet the same standards as those imposed on EU producers.
Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health, spoke about the results of the conference on ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy (14 and 15 October). She highlighted that in 2022, the Commission will make legislative proposals, notably on the sustainable use of pesticides.
She referred to the Commission’s efforts to ensure that EU products are not “disadvantaged” vis-à-vis third country products. The Commissioner said that sustainable food charters are included in trade agreements.
Several Agriculture Ministers (from Latvia, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Cyprus) have argued that imported agricultural products must meet high EU standards. Germany insisted on the need to avoid EU producers finding themselves in competition with third countries that do not respect the same rules. Poland has advocated a level playing field. The French minister, Julien Denormandie, called for this strategy to be implemented “with farmers, not against them”, which implies coherence between the strategy and trade policy.
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) study obliges us to provide additional analyses and actions to ensure that trade policy is a lever for this strategy, “otherwise we will not succeed”, said France, which has requested the application of Article 118 of Regulation 2019/6 on veterinary medicines, “which would be a good example of these mirror clauses”.
Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland questioned the Commission on the impact assessment justifying the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)