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The EU’s plans to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050, known as the Green Deal, is a “historic opportunity” for agriculture according to the new European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski.
Addressing questions from MEPs in the European Parliament on Thursday 23 January, Wojciechowski said farms in the EU had been getting bigger, with small farms disappearing as they could not compete.
He said the Green Deal could be used to put an end to this. The Polish commissioner said it was an opportunity to shift supports to smaller farms to ensure their survival.
It seems to me that much of your clothing has been taken by other commissioners
He pointed to Austria as an example where he said most of the funds under the second pillar of CAP which funds rural development programmes was being used for agri-environmental schemes. Increasing the level of organic farming was one area in which Wojciechowski saw a lot of opportunities.
Retailers
However, Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness expressed concerns at the commissioner’s division of farming between industrial scale and organic. She said he was neglecting the bulk of farmers, who are “conventional farmers, medium-sized, trying to make a living”.
She said industrial-scale processors and retailers were also responsible for the pressures farmers faced. She said farmers had taken to the streets in protest mainly over market prices and low incomes.
She also expressed concerns that the power of the Commissioner for Agriculture was being eroded.
“It seems to me that much of your clothing has been taken by other commissioners, when you look at the farm to fork strategy and while you might be at the table, you may not get a big portion of the meal,” the first vice-president of the Parliament said.
Wojciechowski said the Commissioner for Competition was now responsible for agricultural state aid but apart from this there was no change in responsibilities compared to previous commissioners.
Budget
Independent MEP Luke Ming Flanagan raised concerns about the CAP budget.
He said the percentage of the EU budget for agriculture was proposed to go down from 39.36% to 28.5%. On the other hand, Flanagan said it was proposed to increase the defence budget by 2,200%.
He asked the commissioner if he would fight to get a bigger slice of the EU budget for agriculture.
Wojciechowski said he was working hard to convince all member states to increase their contributions in order to protect the CAP budget. He said it was “in their hands to be bold”.
He said without facing the budgetary challenge the idea of the Green Deal could not be delivered.
The commissioner committed to updating MEPs once an analysis of the impact of the Green Deal on agriculture was completed.
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