At a press conference in Brussels on Thursday 14 December, the EU’s agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca) expressed the hope that the EU Council would display “common sense” by correcting the agreement with the European Parliament on the proposed directive on industrial emissions (see EUROPE 13303/1).
Christiane Lambert, President of Copa, gave an update on the proposals and texts arising from the European Green Deal, which are causing concern among EU farmers.
She felt that the process of creating legislation was continuing (soil, animal transport, industrial emissions, pesticide reduction, etc.) and that this “regulatory overheating” was weighing heavily on farmers’ shoulders. According to Ms Lambert, the break announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in the texts affecting agriculture, has not taken place.
She criticised the agreement between the EU Council and the European Parliament on the proposed directive on industrial emissions (see EUROPE 13303/1), which is due to be reviewed on Friday 15 December by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper).
The figures are “very penalising” for the poultry and pig sectors, according to Ms Lambert, who does not understand why laying hens are treated differently from broilers. She expects Coreper to maintain “the status quo” and correct the figures on the standards applied to the livestock sector. “We don’t want any tightening of the rules”, she insisted in response to a question from EUROPE.
The co-legislators have agreed to extend the directive’s measures to pig farms with more than 350 livestock units. Farms raising pigs extensively or organically, and outdoors for a significant period of a year, are excluded. For poultry, the directive will apply to farms of laying hen with more than 300 livestock units and farms with chickens for meat production with more than 280 units. For pig and poultry farms, the limit is 380 units.
The Commission originally proposed a threshold of 150 units for all livestock, including cattle.
Christiane Lambert also expressed the hope that the proposal to regulate the use of new genomic techniques (NGT) would be concluded before the European elections in June 2024. She indicated that Coreper could give its opinion next week on the possibility of reaching a ‘general approach’ in the Council, following the failure of the Agriculture Council on 11 December.
With regard to the text on the sustainable use of pesticides, Ms Lambert said that future legislation should include correct timelines, realistic levels of reduction and appropriate budgets.
With regard to large carnivores, Copa-Cogeca advocated “better management” of predators (wolves and bears) by changing the protection status of the wolf.
On Ukraine, Ramon Armengol, President of Cogeca, condemned the negative effects of Ukrainian imports of grain, eggs and poultry into the EU and called for more effective controls on these products (limits based on averages over 2021-2022) and measures to ensure that products destined for third countries do not end up on the EU market. These high levels of imports are having a serious impact on European producers’ output and prices, he said. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)