‘Stop imports, Green Deal out’, says EU agriculture commissioner

EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski blamed the bloc’s “trade and climate policies” for farmers’ discontent after the European Parliament’s agriculture committee called on him to stand up for European farming. 

“Farmers did not take to the streets because of the EU agricultural policy,” Wojciechowski said in a letter, seen by Euractiv, sent on Thursday (22 February) to MEP Norbert Lins, chairman of the Parliament’s agriculture committee.

Lins wrote to Wojciechowski on Tuesday (20 February) on behalf of the committee, calling for “political leadership” and setting out six demands to ease farmers’ discontent that has spread across Europe since the start of the year. 

In response, Wojciechowski said he agreed that “swift actions” were needed. 

He added that policy initiatives under the EU’s Green Deal may have gone “too far” in some cases and called for changes in the EU’s trade policy.

“Stop imports, Green Deal out!” he wrote in the letter.

Two main ‘threats’

In laying the blame for the farmers’ protests, Wojciechowski raised the issue of ensuring “fair” competition in the EU trade agreements and the “burdens” of the Green Deal. 

He said imports from Ukraine and Morocco posed a threat to European farmers because they were not produced according to the same standards, and also warned of the potential impact of the EU-MERCOSUR trade deal. 

“The principle of reciprocity in trade relations requires changes in our trade policy and greater protection for agriculture,” he added. 

On green policies, Wojciechowski called for member states to be allowed to waive sanctions for farmers unable to meet certain conditionality standards.

Ukrainian imports

Wojciechowski said that, while trade liberalisation with Ukraine in June 2022 was “very beneficial” for the overall EU economy, it resulted in a trade deficit for the agricultural sector. 

With the extension of trade benefits – the so-called autonomous trade measures (ATMs) –  to be decided soon by the European Parliament and the Council, Wojciechowski urged lawmakers to avoid the risk of “deepening the destabilisation” of the EU’s agricultural market. 

“Farmers’ interests should not be sacrificed to other interests,” he said.  

Wojciechowski also said that ATMs should be accompanied by an extension of the temporary crisis framework for state aid to farmers for another year. 

“It is impossible to imagine a situation in which farmers bearing a heavy cost of liberalisation will not be able to profit from public aid from their country,” he said. 

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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