Ministers called on the EU to increase the funding of the €60bn subsidy scheme for the Common Agricultural Policy in an effort to calm protests after Belgian farmers blocked roads and lit tyres on fire in central Brussels.
The CAP is designed to guarantee food production by providing a stable income stream to farmers. It consumes approximately a third of EU’s combined budget.
Ministers meeting in Brussels to discuss urgent measures to appease farmers, said that more money is crucial.
Charlie McConalogue is Ireland’s Agriculture Minister. He said that the CAP has “eroded” over the years in real terms and “must strengthen in terms of funding”.
“Food security and supporting the production of food [should] be put back in the center of. . . According to diplomats at the meeting, this was echoed by other ministers in France, Poland, and other countries of eastern Europe.
€386.6bn, or €1.21tn, of the budget for 2021-2027 is allocated to the CAP. Around 80 percent of the money from this scheme goes to only 20 per cent farmers.
The debate about its increase is amidst heated discussions on priorities for the EU joint budget. Governments are reluctant to contribute more because of stretched national finances, and needing to spend more money on defence since Russia launched its full invasion in Ukraine 2 years ago.
Piet Adema is the Dutch agriculture minister. He said that rather than boosting the CAP member states should have more flexibility on how to use the funds. However, he also said that consumers must accept paying more for food.
Adema stated: “There needs to be more transparency throughout the food supply chain. Where are the profits made, where are losses made, and how can this be influenced?
The amount you pay for food has decreased compared to what it was 20 or 30 year ago. If we want to encourage our farmers to produce sustainable products, we must pay.
Farmers are not only calling for more funding, but also for a relaxation of environmental regulations and for a re-examination of trade agreements that, they claim allow cheap imports from food to undercut the prices of EU producers.
On Monday in Brussels, hundreds of tractor blockaded the streets near where ministers met. Some drove towards riot police, and destroyed barbed-wire barricades around the main building.
Some protesters brandished placards and hurled manure with slogans like “Leave a Future for Our Children, Don’t Kill Our Parents”. Water cannons were used by the police to put out burning tires.
These demonstrations are the culmination of weeks of protests in EU countries, including France, Germany and Italy. They also took place in Poland, Romania, Spain, Romania, Romania, Romania, Romania, Romania, Romania, Romania, Romania, Spain, Romania, France, Germany. Farmers in Poland blocked a major autobahn on Monday, and they threatened to blockade it for at least 20 days without receiving their demands.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, missed a G7 summit at the weekend because he spent 13 hours with farmers during the annual Salon de l’Agriculture. After facing protests, he called for calm.
He said, “We won’t be able fix the farming crises in a couple of hours.”
David Clarinval said that the proposals made by the European Commission to reduce red tape for farmers seeking to access CAP funding were “a step forward”, but “more aggressive measures” are needed.
The Commission has already removed a proposal that would reduce pesticide use from a document that outlines options for a future EU climate policy.
One EU diplomat has said that agriculture will be on agenda at the EU Leaders’ Summit in March.
In a Friday letter to the Commission, Copa Cogeca (the main farming lobby group) said that the environmental agenda of the bloc had led to “a regulatory flood, with too many hasty consultations, top down targets without assessment and proposals forced through without feasibility studies”.
Via Campesina is one of the groups that organized the protest on Monday. It represents small farmers and food producers. Administrative simplification is necessary but insufficient to ensure an income for our farm.”