Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, announced in her State of the Union address on Wednesday 13 September that she wanted to “launch a strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture in the EU”.
This is the first time that, in an occasion of this kind, she has quoted and paid tribute to farmers, “as the consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, climate change bringing droughts, forest fires and flooding, all having a growing impact on farmers’ work and incomes”, and “new obligations”.
“We need more dialogue and less polarisation”, said Mrs von der Leyen, “convinced that agriculture and protection of the natural world can go hand in hand”.
The EU’s agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca) welcomed the announcement of a strategic dialogue, but felt that this dialogue “should form part of the preparatory work for the future common agricultural policy (CAP)”. Copa-Cogeca believes that the consequences of policy initiatives should be examined in a factual manner, using science-based impact assessments. “We therefore hope that this strategic dialogue will open with an analysis of the ‘Green Deal’ policies already on the table and that any new proposals will be subject to feasibility and budgetary assessments to make EU ambitions on par with its resources”, according to these organisations.
European Green Deal. This measure is part of the European Green Deal, which, as Ursula von der Leyen pointed out, responds to the “necessity to protect our planet” through a series of initiatives aimed at achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
But while the EU has adopted some of the 75 resulting texts, almost half of them are still under discussion. With less than a year to go before the elections, climate and environmental issues are one of the main priorities for MEPs (see EUROPE 13248/18).
This concern is all the more central given that certain issues (nature restoration - see EUROPE 12977/17 - and the sustainable use of pesticides) are strongly opposed by the right and extreme right in the European Parliament.
In her speech, the President of the European Commission stated that her ambition for the Green Deal remained intact, declaring: “We stay the course. We stay ambitious. We stick to our growth strategy. And we will always strive for a fair and just transition”.
Thus, Mrs von der Leyen affirms in the same breath that the 2050 targets and the climate law launched at the start of her term of office were the starting point for a climate programme that has become an economic programme, guiding a new growth strategy for the EU. “This is the strength of Europe’s response to climate change”, she enthused.
“As we enter the next phase of the European Green Deal, one thing will never change. We will keep supporting European industry throughout this transition. We started with a package of measures – from the Net-Zero Industry Act to the Critical Raw Materials Act”, she added, before announcing “a series of Clean Transition Dialogues with industry” and “a European Wind Power package” (see other news).
These statements were welcomed by the group leaders, in particular Stéphane Séjourné (Renew Europe, French) and Iratxe García Pérez (S&D, Spanish), who also called to “break the silence and send a clear message of support for the Green Deal”.
Animal welfare. At the same time, NGOs and MEPs, including Caroline Roose (Greens/EFA, French), have expressed concern that the Commission seems to be abandoning the idea of reforming animal welfare legislation.
Four Paws considered this step backwards in “progressive” reforms to be “unacceptable”. Compassion in World Farming EU is outraged by the Commission’s failure to honour its commitments (see EUROPE 13247/7).
Read Mrs von der Leyen’s speech: https://aeur.eu/f/8it
See the letter of intent from the European Commission: https://aeur.eu/f/8iu (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur and Nithya Paquiry)