EU agriculture ministers generally supported the European Commission’s communication on fertilisers on Monday 21 November, but called for additional measures, including funding outside the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget.
A document from the Spanish delegation (https://aeur.eu/f/45l ), supported by the Bulgarian, Cypriot, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian and Slovak delegations, calls on the European Commission to adopt short-, medium- and long-term measures to solve the problem of fertiliser availability.
They call for “maintaining the European strategic autonomy in fertilisers production and supply, avoiding new dependencies on fertiliser imports from third countries” and providing for measures impacting the price of natural gas (for the production of nitrogen compounds) and the price of energy (for the production of phosphate and potassium fertilisers).
Crisis reserve. “We are experiencing a global mineral fertiliser crisis unprecedented since the 1970s. This is of great concern, as more than half of the food produced in the world depends on mineral fertilisers”, said Janusz Wojciechowski, the European Commissioner for Agriculture. He recalled the main measures set out in the communication of 9 November (see EUROPE 13060/5).
“I am not ruling out the use of the agricultural crisis reserve, if necessary, to support our farmers”, the Commissioner said. Several countries have expressed their support for the use of this crisis reserve, including Poland, Finland, Belgium, Slovakia, Lithuania and Latvia. Germany, on the other hand, has stated its opposition to the use of the crisis reserve, as has Italy.
Luis Planas, the Spanish minister, called for a real “global strategy” on fertilisers and the reduction of the EU’s dependence on imported fertilisers. State aid (the crisis framework) should remain the exception and not the rule, said Spain, as did as other countries. Otherwise competition may be distorted.
Other short-term solutions are needed to avoid a decline in agricultural production in the EU, warned Luis Planas. He welcomed the Commission’s planned transparency measures (the new fertiliser market observatory) and called for management tools to reduce fertiliser use. Biostimulants are also important, as is the search for alternative nutrients and energy sources, promoting the recovery of bio-waste and animal by-products, taking advantage of all the related measures provided for in EU legislation in this area (the Nitrates Directive 91/676/EEC, regulation 1069/2009 on animal by-products and regulation 2019/1009 on fertiliser products).
Lithuania welcomed some of the measures set out in the communication, but regretted the lack of realistic measures to reassure farmers ahead of the 2023 harvest.
The Netherlands called for nutrients to be valued and regretted the lack of proposals in this area in the Commission’s communication. The country said the aim is to reduce the use of artificial fertilisers.
Germany and the Netherlands welcomed the Commission’s intention to present an action plan on nutrient management in 2023. In this context, Belgium has requested a change in legislation to allow the use of ‘RENURE’ organic fertilisers.
Forestry by-products should be used, Italy advised.
Romania has asked to use financial resources outside the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Portugal called for exceptional measures, especially in the short term, to protect activities, and believes that action is needed on the budget.
Marc Fesneau, the French minister, called for strengthening the EU’s strategic autonomy on mineral fertilisers. It is necessary, in his view, to invest now in the European fertiliser industry “with funding outside the CAP to support it in the move towards more sustainable production methods”.
Malta expressed concern about a lack of funding in the CAP strategic plans.
Solidarity with the most vulnerable third countries was mentioned by several ministers.
Finally, several countries (France, Austria and others) called for measures to develop the European plant protein sector. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)