EU leaders will again address the issue of global food security from the perspective of the impact of the war in Ukraine on the most vulnerable countries at their summit on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 June.
They will point out Russia’s responsibility and intensify reflection on how to strengthen the EU’s support to these countries, in particular in Africa, in a multilateral framework.
“Russia, by weaponising food in its war against Ukraine, is solely responsible for the global food security crisis it has provoked”, according to the draft conclusions dated 21 June, which remained unchanged from the 20 June version (see EUROPE 12975/2).
In his letter of invitation to the Heads of State or Government of the EU27, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, wrote: “This affects many countries, especially in Africa, risking famine and political and social instability. Building on our efforts to help Ukraine export its grain, we will discuss further measures to tackle these issues.
The discussion on this subject, which is scheduled for Thursday afternoon as part of the Ukraine exchange, will focus on how to get the 20 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain blocked in the Black Sea out of the country.
In terms of solidarity lanes to find alternative routes, “a lot has already been done so far - from 600,000 tonnes that were able to be taken out in April, we went up to 2 million tonnes in May, but it’s not enough”, a senior EU official stressed on Wednesday, estimating that “we can expect a discussion on one of the most sensitive issues”.
A widely shared view: “I have heard that storage has to be empty on 1 July and there is not very much progress to export grain. The EU is doing what it can to transport grain by land. We did what we could, but it’s “peanuts”. This is really a problem for the Ukrainians and a major problem for highly dependent third countries”, said a European diplomat.
The European Council is expected again to call on Moscow “to release grain and unblock the Black Sea, in particular the port of Odessa” and stress that “EU sanctions against Russia allow for the free movement of agricultural and food products and the delivery of humanitarian aid”.
On Wednesday, a diplomatic source welcomed in advance “an extremely clear message that sanctions have no impact on global food security, for the simple reason that they do not target agricultural products”.
The draft conclusion confirms the leaders’ support for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ efforts to seek an agreement between Ukraine, Russia and Turkey to establish secure corridors and their strong support for European Solidarity Lanes, both overland and through European ports, for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products.
The European Council will also reportedly ask the Commission, the European External Action Service and the Member States to step up their efforts to support the resilience of developing countries - in particular African countries - by accelerating the implementation of the Team Europe flagship initiatives agreed last February at the Sixth EU/African Union Summit to develop sustainable food production, enhance agricultural productivity and strengthen the capacity of agribusinesses on the continent (see EUROPE 12973/23).
Support for input manufacturing in developing countries is also mentioned, with some doubt as to whether to include sustainable fertilisers in these inputs.
This should be done within the framework of the Food and Resilience Initiative (FARM), UN initiatives and the G7 Global Alliance for Food Security (see EUROPE 12973/23).
See the draft conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/28j (Original version in French by Aminata Niang, with the editors)