The budget for the common agricultural policy (CAP) must be increased, while the number of legislative proposals stemming from the ‘European Green Deal’ must be reduced, representatives of the farming world and the EU institutions called on Tuesday 6 December at a conference organised by Farm Europe.
The 6th edition of the ‘Global Food Forum’ was held on Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 December in Jodoigne, under the theme ‘Climate, nutrition, energy: European agriculture on all fronts’.
The debates focused on the financing of the common agricultural policy (CAP), the environmental and energy transition, international trade, food security and nutrition.
On the CAP budget, Anne Sander MEP (EPP, French) stressed the need to be able to invest more in agriculture, including in new genomic techniques (NGTs). According to inflation forecasts, the CAP will be €85 billion short until 2027. It called for an increase in the CAP budget at the mid-term review of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) in 2023.
“The new needs cannot be financed within the CAP budget”, said Irene Tolleret (Renew Europe, French).
Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italian) spoke about strategic agricultural autonomy, plant proteins and NGTs.
Many participants in this forum supported the position of European farmers and therefore criticised the effects of the ‘European Green Deal’.
Anne Sander stressed that the consequences of the Farm-to-Fork proposals “would lead to a decline in agricultural production, higher food prices for Europeans and a blow to our food security”. This would be an “economic, geopolitical and environmental mistake” (increased imports). She acknowledged that not all participants in the debate (including the Commission representatives) favour the same scenario. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)