The European Parliament is preparing a joint resolution on the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine for food security. The resolution is expected to be discussed and voted on Wednesday 23 March at a mini-plenary session in Brussels.
MEP Jérémy Decerle (Renew Europe, France) told EUROPE on Wednesday 16 March that the European Union should “lift all constraints that could harm the ability to produce in Europe”. We should look at all the things in the CAP rules that potentially “prevent us from producing more”, he added. More protein needs to be produced for animal feed, for example.
In the longer term, Mr Decerle suggests that the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy should also take into account the need for food sovereignty. We need to “define what we need in terms of food sovereignty and production targets”, he argued.
On Wednesday, the Greens/EFA group in the Parliament wrote to the European Commission expressing “its concern that the current discussions on the reassessment of the European Green Deal’s agricultural elements risk fundamentally undermining progress in these areas”.
See the environmentalists’ letter: https://aeur.eu/f/sh
The aim of MEPs is to present a joint resolution on food safety to the plenary from the different political groups in the Parliament (EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA, etc.), a European source said.
For the time being, each group had until 16 March to submit a draft statement. Secondly, work must be done to draw up a joint draft resolution bringing together the maximum number of political groups.
The European Commission will also present on Wednesday 23 March a Communication on how to ensure food security inside and outside the EU in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Market measures. In addition, the French Presidency of the Council of the EU transmitted on Wednesday a document containing the remarks of the Member States on the measures envisaged by the European Commission to remedy the disturbances on the markets due to the war (see EUROPE 12910/3).
See the note: https://aeur.eu/f/sg
EU farmers support Ukraine. The solidarity of the agricultural community with the Ukrainian people is real and visible in all member countries.
“We at Copa-Cogeca are thinking of our Ukrainian farmer colleagues and members of cooperatives in Ukraine who are on the front line, and we are trying to give them all the help we can”, say the EU’s agricultural cooperatives and organisations.
Copa-Cogeca has set up a web page that lists the actions organised in member organisations at local and national level. The Ukrainian National Agrarian Forum (UNAF) has joined the European agricultural family by becoming a partner of Copa and Cogeca.
See the Copa-Cogeca website: https://aeur.eu/f/sw (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)