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On 13/02/2020, MEPs discussed the forthcoming Farm to Fork strategy, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski also participated in the discussion. Norbert Lins, chairman of the EP's Committee on Agriculture, said that it is not possible to focus on farmers alone, and that consumers must also pay attention - according to Lins, 72% of consumers demand better animal welfare or pesticide control, but only 16% of them are willing to pay more for it. Janusz Wojciechowski supported the provision of an adequate budget for the CAP in order to meet the enhanced requirements. A number of MEPs (primarily from the EP Committee on Agriculture) drew attention to the fact that farmers are now left out of the discussion on the Farm to Fork strategy and called on the Commission to strengthen cooperation with farmers; they also stressed the need to ensure an adequate budget for the CAP. Nonetheless, Dutch MEP Anja Hazekamp (GUE / NGL) pointed out that the CAP is mainly used to support large enterprises, which leads to the promotion of unsustainable practices. German MEP Martin Häusling (Greens) supported strengthening support for small farms and reducing livestock farms. Slovenian MEP Franc Bogovic (EPP) supported short supply chains. Czech MEPs Michaela Šojdrová (EPP) and Ivan David (I&D) highlighted the issue of imports from third countries and ensuring competitiveness; Martin Hlaváček (Renew) stressed that attention should be focused not only on farmers, but also on food chains and unfair subsidies.
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Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski said last week that the CAP must be greener. According to him, intensive livestock farming needs to be addressed to ensure policy sustainability. Wojciechowski said that, for example, 690 pigs per 100 ha of farmland were kept in the Netherlands, 452 in Belgium, and 473 in Denmark. By contrast, in Poland only 67 pigs are kept per 100 ha, in France only 43. According to the Commissioner, part of the production is now unsustainable, the problem is the concentration and intensification of production. According to Wojciechowski, it will therefore be necessary to act against intensive pig farming under the European Green Deal. Wojciechowski's position has already been rejected by the Secretary-General of Europe's largest agricultural organization, Copa and Cogeca Pekka Pesonen.
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Last week, German Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner stressed that the new Common Agricultural Policy must set ambitious greening and environmental and climate protection objectives. According to her, it is important that uniform guidelines will be put in place across all Member States of the European Union in order to prevent any deterioration of conditions compared to the current situation. Eco-schemes should be mandatory, with a minimum budget to be allocated by Member States to eco-schemes. According to Klöckner, a mandatory minimum proportion of non-productive areas in agricultural land should also be set at EU level.

Eleven Central and Eastern European Member States will discuss the future of agricultural policy in the context of the European Green Deal on 24/02/2020 in Warsaw. Ministers of Agriculture should sign a joint declaration during the conference, according to initial information, one of the key positions could be to warn against the European Green Deal and its negative impact on the viability of European farms and farmers. According to the draft declaration, higher requirements for farmers and agricultural policy should be reflected in the CAP budget, the declaration rejects the reduction of the CAP budget. External convergence should be another key topic of the conference and support for its achievement as soon as possible. However, the conference will take place in Warsaw only 4 days after the extraordinary European Summit on the EU budget.

National energy and climate plans, which should include, inter alia, the expected development of renewable energy sources in transport, or plans to reduce emissions and greenhouse gases, aim to contribute to the European Union's green commitments by 2030. The European Commission has published national plans already submitted, but a total of nine Member States have not yet sent their proposals (France, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Ireland, Slovenia and Luxembourg). The European Commission has urged these countries to submit national plans quickly.
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