Could European farmers lose a vital safeguard against unfair competition? This is the concern expressed by the Italian and Spanish agriculture ministers in a joint letter sent on 29 October to the Irish Presidency of the EU Council, following the EU Council’s position on the post-2027 CAP (see EUROPE 13969/4).
In the letter, Francesco Lollobrigida and Luis Planas firmly defend social conditionality, a mechanism introduced by the 2021 reform that, for the first time, links public agricultural support to respect for workers’ rights, health and safety in the sector.
For the two countries, removing this provision would undermine a fundamental principle: European public money must not fund practices that violate workers’ rights. “The dignity of those working in agriculture must be an integral part of the responsibility associated with the use of European resources,” the signatories insist, pointing out that the mechanism draws on existing labour law without creating new reporting obligations for farmers.
Link to the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/o7u (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)