The body representing farm organisations and agricultural co-operatives in the EU have met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and called for the appointment of a dedicated commission vice-president for agriculture.
Copa Cogeca met with President von der Leyen – who is understood to be seeking another term as commission president – to formally present their key demands and asks ahead of the European Parliament elections in June, and to discuss other key issues related to agriculture.
Among those were institutional issues, and the need, according to Copa, for a greater emphasis on agriculture within the commission.
Of the 27 members of the commission (one from each member state), a handful are appointed as vice-presidents, who oversee key commission policies and co-ordinate the work of other commissioners in ‘commissioner groups’.
E.g., the current Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, is part of the European Green Deal policy group, which is overseen by Commission Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Maroš Šefčovič.
What Copa Cogeca is calling for is the appointment of a vice-president for agriculture and rural areas, overseeing a dedicated commission policy, and a number of commissioners, in that area.
The Copa Cogeca delegation that met with President von der Leyen included the Copa president and vice president; the Cogeca president and vice-president; and deputy secretary general of the joint group.
The group called for the “strategic repositioning of agriculture at the centre of European policies”.
A number of other topics were discussed during the one-hour meeting. Copa Cogeca said that President von der Leyen “showed great attention during the meeting to the presentation of farming communities’ challenges”.
According to the farmer and cooperative organisation, the commission president also “reaffirmed the need to stop polarising agriculture and the environment in order to move forward”.
Copa called for the commission to carry out a “real review” of the EU’s agricultural budget to align environmental, geopolitical, and financial ambitions following an impact assessment of current agricultural polices at the beginning of the next European Commission term after the elections.
Copa also called for “coherence between the EU’s trade policy and its ambitions for the internal market”.
Commenting after the meeting, COPA president Christiane Lambert said: “This first meeting with the president of the commission was extremely important.
“Covid, war, climate change, and fears for Europe’s food sovereignty made this meeting important. We’re going to continue the discussions and, before the elections, [the meeting] is a very good sign that farmers are being listened to,” Lambert added.