The benefits of the common agricultural policy (CAP) and fears of food shortages in this time of war in Ukraine dominated European Parliament speeches on Monday, 6 June, on the occasion of a ceremony in Strasbourg to celebrate 60 years of the CAP.
President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola mentioned the context of rising production costs, which “will soon lead to higher food prices”. She pointed out that fertiliser prices have risen 30% since the beginning of 2022 and that the rising cost of fuel is weighing on farms in the European Union.
Risk of a global shortage. She referred to grain trade being blocked after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Blockades of ports and an inability to find alternative ways to transport agricultural products in and out of Ukraine has led to higher prices and a sense of instability,” Mrs Metsola declared. The pressure on global food supply chains is “extremely worrying” in her opinion. “If Ukraine is not allowed to toil its fields, we are looking at a global multi-year lack of food supplies,” concluded the European Parliament’s president.
In Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski’s opinion, the CAP should be adapted to current and future challenges. “We must take care [not only] to produce the right food today but also to preserve the potential of our land for tomorrow, for future generations of Europeans,” the commissioner said in summary. That is why the CAP is being reformed so that agriculture will become “more friendly for the environment, climate, and animal welfare”.
Mr Wojciechowski wanted the EU to do more to ensure stability of farmers’ incomes, especially in crisis situations.
Green transition. Marc Fesneau, the sitting chair of the ‘Agriculture’ Council, insisted on the issue of the green transition through the ‘European Green Deal’. “This agroecological transition is at the heart of the issue of food sovereignty because, no, our farms will not be able to produce sufficient quantities and quality [of food] without adapting the corresponding systems in such a way to preserve the means of production, namely soils, biodiversity, and natural resources such as water,” stressed the French agriculture minister.
“Therefore, the CAP will be absolutely necessary to ensure our capacity to produce and feed our population—just as we, Europeans, have a particular responsibility to contribute to global food security,” insisted Marc Fesneau.
He ended his speech by saying that, after 60 years, the CAP more than ever remains a policy that is “faithful to the spirit of its founders while being resolutely modern”.
Ensuring a good harvest in 2023. For the last speaker—Norbert Lins (EPP, Germany), chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture—there is a risk of a supply crisis in Europe and North Africa.
“Putin is blackmailing the world by depriving it of wheat. We have a responsibility to act quickly to ensure food security, sustainability, and affordability”, he declared.
He welcomed the EU’s measures aiming to increase the production of cereals in 2022. In his opinion, the same should be done for 2023, and it will be necessary to “create, in the coming weeks, the conditions that will enable us to ensure a good harvest in Europe in 2023 and contribute to security in Europe and in our neighbourhood”.
MEPs dressed in traditional clothes representing their region for the occasion in order to honour the motto of unity in diversity. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)