News

On 16/03/2022, the Commission launched feedback on the evaluation of the LIFE 2014-2020 environmental program. LIFE is a tool for co-financing projects in the field of environmental protection and the fight against climate change. The aim of the initiative is to evaluate whether the program fulfils its function. The consultation is open until 13/04/2022, available here.

On 15/03/2022, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) reached a general approach on a regulation on the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The aim of the regulation is to reduce emissions from imports from third countries and to encourage third countries to implement carbon pricing policies in the fight against climate change. For the time being, the CBAM mechanism will apply to fertilizers from agricultural commodities. The approved regulation is a key part of the FitFor55 energy and climate package, published on 14/08/2021. The regulation targets carbon-intensive products and is designed to prevent the relocation of production to third countries. The new rules will apply to cement, aluminium, fertilizers, electricity generation, the iron and steel industries.

European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, responsible for the European Commission's plans for a European Green Deal, said last week that he did not intend to postpone the implementation of the new CAP or to interfere with European Green Deal plans and measures in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. According to Timmermans, the European Union should be climate neutral by 2050, and this goal should not be jeopardized. Timmermans therefore does not plan to adjust the objectives of the Farm to Fork strategy. Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, warned of the effects of the conflict in Ukraine, stressing that Ukraine, as a major exporter of grain, feed, maize, and oilseeds, had stopped its exports, which has significant implications for the EU agricultural sector, especially intensive pig farming, which is already in crisis, and which will be hit extremely hard by the conflict in Ukraine. Agriculture ministers are also concerned about the impact of the invasion on the EU's agricultural sector, so they have instructed the European Commission to reconsider the objectives of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy. According to the ministers, the goals of the Green Deal and Farm to Fork are undermining food security in the EU. But Timmermans said it was impossible to believe the illusion that we would help produce food by rejecting the goals of the Farm to Fork strategy, making it less sustainable. According to Timmermans, the Farm to Fork strategy is not part of the problem, but rather its solution.
More information is available here and here.

On 07/03/2022, the European Commission presented several defensive measures that member states could take to ensure that European farmers are protected from the effects of the war in Ukraine. These include the launch of private storage to help European pig farmers, the release of an agricultural crisis reserve of around €500 million, the development of emergency legislation in the event of market disruption, and others. However, some countries, including Sweden and the Netherlands, have already opposed the use of the agricultural crisis reserve. The possibility of growing protein crops on non-productive areas reserved for the protection of biodiversity is also being considered.

On 06/03/2022, the Ukrainian government issued a resolution extending zero quotas on exports of key foodstuffs from Ukraine. The export ban applies to wheat, maize, poultry meat, sunflower oil, oats, buckwheat, millet, sugar, and salt for human consumption. Wheat imports from Ukraine alone to the EU are 19% and oilseeds are 13%. The largest European agricultural organization, Copa and Cogeca, issued a statement on 06/03/2022 following Ukraine's decision, stressing the need to create a so-called ‘food shield’ for Europe and called on the European Commission to swiftly prepare exceptional measures to deal with the consequences of the combination of war and global warming.
More information is available here.