20.9.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 361/9 Thursday 24 March 2022
22.
Demands that the EU fundamentally reconsider its strategies for ensuring full independence from Russian supplies as regards its critical raw materials and stresses that there can be no return to business as usual; calls for supply chains to be rebuilt and for trade to be pursued in a manner that ensures independence from Russian supplies;
23.
Calls for the promotion and simplification of access to energy efficiency measures to reduce the cost burden on farmers and fishers in terms of direct energy inputs; notes that while there is enormous potential to produce renewable wind and solar energy on farms, substantial barriers and challenges still remain for small-scale renewables; calls on the Commission and national authorities to address the main barriers identified by farmers to producing renewable energy, namely complex permit and subsidy procedures, high investment costs, long payback times and limited access to credit;
24.
Stresses that an integral part of the EU action plan to ensure EU food security must be a strategy to increase EU energy independence from Russian supplies, including the complete abandonment of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 projects, while maintaining EU energy security;
25.
Calls on the Commission to assess the possibility and feasibility of mobilising additional financial support for the most affected sectors and to take urgent, targeted and temporary measures to help farmers cushion the effect of the severe increase in fertiliser prices;
26.
Notes that in order to reduce dependence on chemical fertilisers, alternative organic sources of nutrients and nutrient cycling should be utilised to the fullest extent as soon as possible; calls on the Commission to address legislative and practical barriers to the realisation of this solution in order to reduce the dependence on imports of fertilisers, first via a switch to organic fertilisers and then via further support for research and new innovations at EU level; calls on the Commission, in particular, to take the necessary measures, including legislative ones, to enhance the use of organic fertilising products obtained from sewage sludge, processed manure, biocharcoal and frass in order to substitute chemical fertilisers, in line with the objectives of the Farm to Fork Strategy;
27.
Stresses the interlinkages between sustainability and increased circularity in agriculture with the move away from dependence on fossil fuels, imported energy and chemical fertilisers and towards greener, renewable alternatives;
28.
Calls on the Commission to raise the limits for the application of nitrogen from animal manure, such as recovered nitrogen from manure, or RENURE, as an alternative to the use of chemical fertiliser, in line with fertiliser limits; calls on the Commission to consider both a temporary derogation to quickly reduce the cost of fertilisers and to work towards a long-term framework in order to enhance circularity on farms and decrease dependence on third-country resources;
29.
Calls on the Commission to give Member States the flexibility to temporarily allow agricultural production by farmers on Ecological Focus Areas, making use of plant protection products and fertilisers if necessary;
30.
Recognises, in view of the exceptional circumstances, the urgent need for temporary and reversible measures to step up EU production for the 2022 harvesting season in order to contribute to EU food security; calls on the Commission, in light of the need to overcome the immediate shortfall of protein crops, to accelerate the administrative procedures to make it possible during this CAP transition year to use fallow land for the production of these crops for human or animal consumption, without increasing dependence on inputs; calls, in this regard, for priority to be given to protein crops; invites the Commission to revaluate the situation in a timely manner and propose further adequate measures if necessary for 2023;
31.
Considers that shifts in planting regimes to provide more home-grown food and feed during the 2022 growing season in the EU should be assessed and further developed to enhance production systems and allow a planned evolution towards more autonomy in the medium and long term;