Brake on Green Deal and simpler rules: Agricultural ministers’ wish list for next term

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Exempting agriculture from net-zero climate plans, stronger support for farmers and the demand for simpler rules for national administrations are among the key requests emerging from a debate held in the Council on Monday (15 July).

The ministers discussed on the basis of a note from the Austrian delegation, supported by Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Greece.

The topics in the note, entitled generically “European agriculture: the backbone of a competitive, sovereign and prosperous Europe”, covered a wide range of topics.

The document touched upon agriculture’s limitations to reduce emissions and the impact of the Green Deal, the need for fairly distributed subsidies, and for a lower level of protection of large carnivores, the simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), sustainable management of forests, and the importance of bioeconomy.

The list is broad enough to allow the ministers the opportunity to present a tailored wish list for the next Commission, in the week in which Ursula von der Leyen is seeking a majority in the European Parliament to start a new legislative term at the Commission’s helm.

“While we acknowledge the urgency of the matters presented,” the Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski told the ministers, “it is the next Commission that will have the mandate to set priorities and map out the strategic directions for addressing” the issues raised in the meeting.

Green “overregulation”

The Austrian delegation and others countries called on the next Commission to put an end to green “overregulation”, while some member states called for caution in order to maintain the Green Deal’s ambitions for Europe.

“We urgently need a change of tack with the Green Deal” that moves away from “overregulation, with a policy of incentivising people, motivating people, and not discouraging people,” Austrian Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig said at the round table.

Carbon emissions, meanwhile, “largely arise from natural processes and can therefore only be reduced to a certain degree without endangering production”, the document noted, in a reference to the Commission’s plans for an emissions trading scheme (ETS) for agriculture.

The Croatian minister Josip Dabro and the Italian Francesco Lollobrigida were on the same page.

In support of the Austrian proposal, the French representative Cyril Piquemal stressed that the European strategic agenda (2024-2029) for food sovereignty – emphasising food security rather than sustainability – “should be linked to the CAP, within a stable framework, by supporting farmers”.

While most member states welcomed this approach, some defended the Green Deal.

“If anyone wants to call the Green Deal into question in any way, I think it would be an absolute mistake”, warned Spanish Minister Luis Planas upon arrival at the Council, for whom production, sustainability, and profitability “go hand in hand.”

German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir said Europe must not “stray too far from our priorities (…) Implementing the Green deal is essential if we are to achieve climate neutrality by 2050”, while recalling that the CAP must guarantee Europe’s ability to feed its population.

Against deforestation (law)

At the end of April, the Austrian ministers for agriculture and the economy urged the Commission to postpone the implementation of the new European regulation against deforestation (EUDR), scheduled for January 2025, stressing the “insurmountable challenges” for states and companies wishing to comply.

The point was reiterated in the debate by most ministers.

Many countries recalled the need to lower the status of protection of wolves and other large carnivores, at a time when damage to livestock is on the increase in Europe.

Romanian and Latvian delegations stressed the importance of the equalising the level of CAP subsidies between member states.

Finally, the ministers – especially Femke Wiersma, at her first meeting after being appointed in the Nertherlands, and Charlie McConlague from Ireland – insisted on the need to remove bureaucratic obstacles for farmers and national administration.

“I am happy that many delegations presented positions that we need stronger budget for agriculture”, Commissioner Wojciechowski told a press conference following the Council.

He added that he will present a report on the “lessons learned” in the last five years before the end of his term in office.