The draft resolution on fertilisers prepared by the chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture, Norbert Lins (EPP, German), calls on the European Commission to step up action to ensure the availability of fertilisers for agricultural production needs in the EU.
The draft provides a list of short and long-term recommendations.
In particular, Mr Lins calls on the Member States to agree on mobilising the agricultural crisis reserve in 2023, as proposed by the European Commission. The challenge would also be to provide continued access to natural gas for fertiliser production.
On the subject of the mobilisation of State aid, Mr Lins expressed concern about the risk of “renationalisation” of support for the agricultural sector in each country and distortion of competition between the Member States.
MEPs should call on the Member States to revise their national strategic plans implementing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to reduce the use of fertilisers and “such revisions need to be made in a timely manner and should not count as an amendment to their national CAP strategic plans”. It is only possible to modify strategic plans once a year.
In the longer term, the draft resolution calls for diversification of fertiliser sources, identification of new mineral deposits in the EU and close monitoring of excessive profits by global fertiliser manufacturers (see EUROPE 13067/2).
The date for the tabling of amendments is 6 January 2023. The text will be voted on in January in the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture, with a view to considering the fertiliser resolution at the European Parliament’s second plenary session in February 2023.
Link to the draft text: https://aeur.eu/f/4pf (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)