Debate: Droughts and other extreme weather phenomena on the Iberian Peninsula and other parts of Europe
Date: THURSDAY, 17 FEBRUARY 2022
Speaker: Helena Dalli
Language: EN

Climate change will further increase water scarcity and drought hazard, affecting both its frequency and magnitude, not only in the Iberian Peninsula, but across southern countries and other parts of the EU.  Extreme weather events are expected to rise, and therefore we have to look at both the short- and the long-term solutions. Every year losses caused by drought amount to 9 billion euros in the EU. This is a very high figure, which is happening with an increase of temperatures by 1.1 degrees. With global warming at three degrees, droughts would happen twice as often, and the losses in Europe would increase to EUR 40 billion per year, with the most severe impacts in the Mediterranean and Atlantic regions.  This is why it is so crucial to accelerate the transition towards sustainable and resilient food systems and put our farmers on the path to climate neutrality. We should not pretend that current ways of producing food can continue unchanged. The new common agricultural policy provides opportunities to help the sector adapt, and the Commission will encourage Portugal and Spain to make use of the possibilities and the CAP strategic plans.  I call upon national authorities not only of the Iberian Peninsula, but of all the areas likely to get affected by droughts, to establish sustainable and climate-resilient water-management practices that fully reflect the available water resources and the needs of all users – including the environment in a given river basin; fully implement the Water Framework Directive and reach its targets at the latest by 2027 by utilising its means, particularly river basin management plans, drought management plans and the economic instruments for setting the right water price; make the most of the new CAP strategic plans to deal with water management challenges as the Commission has recommended; and ensure that irrigation projects strictly comply with the requirements of the CAP Regulation.  Some actions have already been taken. My understanding is that the Portuguese authorities are already defining national emergency solutions that may contribute to alleviate the worst drought episode experienced by Portugal in the last 17 years, and are also reflecting in medium-term initiatives that will help the agricultural sector to better adapt and thrive under the changing climate.  I also welcome the Portuguese-Spanish transnational cooperation concerning sustainable and climate-resilient management of cross-border rivers such as Miño, Lima, Douro, Tagus, and Guadiana; the future implementation of a system that will allow the exchange in real time of hydrologic and meteorological data; and also the ongoing discussions on new joint collaboration projects between Spain and Portugal that facilitate joint responses and should materialise in sustainable and climate-resilient management of the water resources. Within the framework of the common agricultural policy, I am pleased to inform you that the Commission’s services are in contact with the Portuguese national and regional authorities looking into the support that the common agricultural policy can provide to face this national catastrophe.  I shall briefly sketch some of the most relevant lines of action through which the EU may provide support.  The CAP decoupled income support provides an annual safety cushion for farmers. The basic income support offers a basic layer of income support for farmers and can be complemented by additional income support targeting specific types of beneficiaries or specific issues, for instance sectors in difficulty. The Commission has always shown flexibility in relation to the level of advances for these payments. In this regard many of the sectors that traditionally are most affected by weather phenomena, such as drought, also undergo structural difficulties and as such may have access to the voluntary coupled support subject to a set of conditions which contemplate exceptions due to unforeseen extreme circumstances.  To put forward a concrete example, tomato producers in Spain and Portugal who already receive voluntary coupled support due to structural difficulties, may struggle to reach in this year the required minimum production level fixed in the eligibility conditions for the support due to the extreme weather conditions. Should the Member States’ authorities assessment of the situation confirm this, they may decide to still pay the support to the farmers concerned on the basis of force majeure circumstances.  The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the EU aid scheme for the fruit and vegetable sector under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund can be used by Portugal and Spain to help the farmers affected by extreme weather conditions. Support can be granted to beneficiaries if the relevant measures – in particular those for restoring agricultural potential and for compensating losses through risk management tools – are programmed in the corresponding rural development or operational programmes.  In particular, the rural development programme of 2014-2020 for mainland Portugal, where the drought situation is more severe, includes a specific measure to support investment for the restoration of agricultural land and production potential damaged by natural disasters, adverse climate events and catastrophic events.  In addition, for farmers participating in risk management tools of the rural development programmes, extreme weather events could trigger compensation for significant economic loss. This applies to farmers receiving support for participation in crop-, animal- and plant-insurance schemes and mutual funds for adverse climatic events, animal and plant diseases, pest infestations and environmental incidents. The production loss must amount to at least 20% of higher ceilings established in the rural development programmes. Article 4 of the delegated regulation also allows for a national response in cases where beneficiaries are unable to fulfil their commitments taken under the rural development measures for the same reasons.  There is also the possibility for the Portuguese and Spanish national authorities to grant, in the case of adverse climatic events, support to farmers from their national budget in line with the EU state aid rules, which enable Member States to grant state aid to compensate the damage suffered due to such events. Member States may decide to block-exempt such aid or to grant it as de minimis aid without the need for prior notification to and approval by the Commission.  There’s also the possible use of the EU solidarity fund to alleviate the drought situation in Portugal and Spain. The use of the EU solidarity fund may be requested by Portuguese and Spanish authorities, and notably in the event of severe natural disasters, in order to mobilise EU support to cover the costs of emergency and recovery operations incurred by public authorities.  An EUSF application can be submitted within 12 weeks from the occurrence of the disaster, showing that the total direct damage exceeds either 0.6% of gross national income or 1.5% of the gross domestic product of the affected region.  Drought is a progressively unfolding natural disaster, where a clear starting date cannot be determined. In such cases, the 12-week application deadline is counted from the date on which the public authorities of the affected state took official action for the first time against the effects of the natural disaster or from the date they declared a state of emergency or similar.  I must nonetheless underscore that private damages and assistance to the agricultural sector and farmers is not eligible under the EUSF, and that its application and budgetary processes are to undergo a legislative process involving the Council and the European Parliament that could take several months.  I must also underscore that with intensifying climate change, as well as the opening-up of the EUSF to pandemic related aid, the capacity of the fund to provide adequate solidarity relief will become increasingly curtailed, which again calls for prioritising structural adaptation solutions.  I would invite the Member State authorities to contact the concerned Commission services, DG REGIO, as soon as possible in order to further explore the existing possibilities and applicable conditions.  As you saw, the Commission and national authorities can do a lot of things to support affected farmers, but we need to underline that water resources are only going to be more scarce in the future in certain areas of the EU and that we have to plan for it.