Copa Cogeca has asked to meet with president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen in the coming weeks, as many farming protests continue.
Copa Cogeca said that there is “an urgent need” for the EU to provide short-term answers to the questions posed by thousands of farmers.
The European Commission today (Wednesday, January 31) proposed a one-year derogation for farmers from Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) rules on fallow lands.
The proposal, which will need to be voted on by EU member states, is the first response by the commission to ongoing farmer protests across Europe.
In response to the proposal, Copa Cogeca said it “remains limited” and it hopes that the proposal is further strengthened during the European Council meeting tomorrow (Thursday, February 1).
In an open letter to von der Leyen, Copa Cogeca said that farming communities are “facing enormous challenges and pressures”, which accumulated in recent years.
Copa Cogeca referenced von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech in September 2023, which proposed strategic dialogue for the future of agriculture.
During her speech, von der Leyen said there was a “need to work together with farmers” to secure a supply of food for the future.
Copa Cogeca stated that it welcomes the dialogue and hopes farmers can be listened to and understood.
Copa Cogeca
Copa Cogeca stated: “Across the EU, the effects of climatic and geopolitical crises are impacting our farms considerably.
“And all this with the feeling that more constraints and more European regulations are going to be imposed on farms with severe and irreversible consequences on productions, income and increase of imports with less environmental and social standards.”
The letter includes a list of answers that protesting farmers would like to receive, including:
- A decision to be made on the derogations to the common agricultural policy (CAP) conditionality, eco-schemes and agri-environment climate commitments which build on this for 2024;
- To adapt the next Ukraine Autonomous Trade Measures (ATMs) proposal by creating a system ensuring that the destination for all consignments of Ukrainian agricultural products is determined prior to entry into the EU;
- A continuous push for fair trade.
In terms of fair trade, it added that: “Trade preoccupations go far beyond the impacts of trade liberalisation with Ukraine.”
It said that the Mercosur agreement is “unacceptable” for most EU farmers.
“A continuous push for getting the deal across the line will be perceived as a further provocation by the farming community and will increase the rejection for decisions taken by the European Commission,” Copa Cogeca said.