The Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union hopes to bring the Member States to a common position on the proposal governing the use of new genomic techniques (NGT), so as to “begin negotiations with the European Parliament as soon as possible”, Polish Minister Czesław Siekierski told MEPs.
The Polish Minister for Agriculture presented his priorities for the next six months to the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture.
Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italian) called for greater simplification for farmers. Dario Nardella (S&D, Italian) spoke of the changes to the CAP resulting from EU enlargement, particularly with regard to Ukraine.
Raffaele Stancanelli (Patriots for Europe, Italian) asked the Minister how he intended to improve farmers’ incomes. Carlo Fidanza (ECR, Italian) asked for the Polish Minister’s position on the issue of cellular meat.
Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA) spoke about trade relations with Ukraine and the Mercosur countries.
Answering questions from a number of MEPs on the ‘complex’ issue of NGTs, Czesław Siekierski explained that innovation was important and that these plants should contribute to food security. We need access to new techniques, and there is the issue of patents, he pointed out. The Polish Presidency has already presented a draft compromise (see EUROPE 13553/1).
Regarding the ‘European Green Deal’, Czesław Siekierski, former Chair of Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture, noted that “changes have been made because some provisions weighed too heavily on farmers’ shoulders and did not make sense from an environmental perspective”.
With regard to the agreement with the Mercosur countries, the Polish Minister for Agriculture criticised the lack of transparency in the way in which the negotiations were conducted by the Commission. According to Mr Siekierski, farmers and EU countries have not been sufficiently informed. He explained that on Monday 27 January, the Agriculture Ministers had asked the Commission to present data on “concessions granted under free trade agreements with various countries around the world”. “It was a mistake for the Commission not to disclose everything”, said the Minister (see EUROPE 13567/16).
As far as Ukraine is concerned, according to the Polish Minister, farmers should not be the only ones to bear “a maximum of the costs of opening up trade”.
Several MEPs referred to the Commission’s proposal to impose sanctions on Russian and Belarusian fertilisers (see EUROPE 13567/1), “which will have a severe impact on agricultural production and competitiveness”, warned Copa-Cogeca on Wednesday. “These measures are likely to lead to an increase in fertiliser prices of at least €40/45 per tonne for the next crop year. This increase would put additional financial pressure on farms that are already facing a very difficult economic climate. The consequences for agricultural production, competitiveness and farmers’ incomes could be catastrophic”, predicts the organisation. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)