Debate: Improving the socio-economic situation of farmers and rural areas, ensuring fair incomes, food security as well as a just transition
Date: WEDNESDAY, 17 JANUARY 2024
Speaker: Janusz Wojciechowski
Language: EN

In the face of these challenges, we are grateful to our farmers and all those working in the sector for the food security they continue to provide. This deserves our gratitude at all times, and especially in the extremely difficult times of past years. First, with the largest pandemic in over a century. Then a full-scale war in Europe for the first time in 80 years – and on top of this, the dramatic and increasing climate disasters in the form of droughts, wildfires and floods. Each of these crises have hit our farmers very hard. But in the face of these challenges, our farmers have continued to guarantee self-sufficiency in the European Union for most agricultural products, such as grain, meat, milk, as well as fruit and vegetables. For this, we are grateful. Indeed, between 2015 and 2022, added production in European agriculture increased by 28%, and income per unit of work in agriculture increased by 43%. Today, the European Union is the world’s largest food exporter. In 2022, the surplus of exports over imports amounted to EUR 58 billion. According to our data for the first nine months of 2023, from January to September, our surplus already amounts to over EUR 40 billion, with exports increasing by 5%, comparing to 2022, and imports decreasing by 2%. This is the success story of European agriculture. However, it is not the full story. There are also threats, which have raised growing concerns for our farmers, and I would like to address these concerns today. Farming protests, which have flared up in some countries recently, are largely rooted in national policies. However, we must also look at these concerns from the perspective of our EU policies. The first problem is Russia and its aggression against Ukraine. Firstly, I would also like to remind you of the aid provided to European Union farmers impacted by the war in Ukraine. We activated aid from the crisis reserve for this purpose. But above all, we included agriculture in the possibilities of extended national state aid. Thanks to this, in 2022 and 2023, farmers in 22 countries benefited from state aid, amounting to EUR 9.3 billion in total. This aid has provided crucial support to the farmers most in need. However, our full openness to agricultural imports from Ukraine has unfortunately brought significant competitive threats to many of our farmers, who face a market that has radically changed. In 2021, only 16% of Ukrainian agricultural exports went to the EU market. In 2022 and 2023 it is already more than half. In 2022, agriculture imports from Ukraine to the European Union almost doubled, from EUR 7 billion to EUR 13 billion. In 2023, agricultural imports from Ukraine will also exceed EUR 12 billion. The Commission remains committed to continue supporting Ukraine in these difficult times, while taking into account the European Union sensitivities. We are now discussing within the Commission next steps once the Autonomous Trade Measures expire by next June, and we will of course take all these elements into consideration. The second reason for farmers’ concern is related to the green transition. Firstly, let me say that during my time in office, the vast majority of farmers I have met have shared a deep concern about the environment and expressed a willingness to play their part in its conservation. However, many have also expressed concerns over their ability to comply with increasing regulations and legal obligations. Currently, this concern is not focused on the common agricultural policy, but rather on legislative initiatives outside the CAP – the Pesticides Regulation, the Industrial Emissions Directive and the Nature Restoration Law. I will not talk more about them, especially since they do not fall under my responsibility in the Commission. However, the common agricultural policy does fall under my responsibility. There is one ‘green’ element in the new CAP that has raised particular concern among farmers, and has been the subject of many initiatives, not only by farmers but also by Member States. This concerns GAEC 8 – in other words, the obligation to set aside at least 4% of arable land on farms over 10 hectares to ‘non-productive areas or features’. Last year we suspended this obligation by a delegated act of the Commission. This year, despite great pressure from farmers, we cannot repeat this derogation without amending the basic act. Taking a wider perspective, after one year of implementation, I believe that we have achieved a good compromise in the common agricultural policy strategic plans, striking a balance between the productive function of agriculture and the tasks towards the environment and climate. The common agricultural policy is working. Farmers have submitted application forms and are implementing eco-schemes. These are especially beneficial for active farmers, who receive payments for practices like carbon farming or animal welfare, for which they did not receive payments before. We were concerned that farmers would not take advantage of the eco-schemes and that some of the funds would be lost. However, I can assure you that this risk has not materialised and that all agricultural funds, over EUR 300 billion planned for 2023 to 2027, will be used. As our discussion relates to the socio-economic situation, let me mention that addressing labour and skills shortages in the agro-food sector is of paramount importance, with implications reaching beyond the sector itself to touch on broader concerns of food security. The shortage of manpower in the sector is a critical challenge that necessitates our immediate attention. It’s not just about the quantity of people; it’s about ensuring that those contributing to the sector enjoy favourable working conditions. Recognising this, it becomes imperative to persist in the implementation of social conditionality measures, and that Member States’ social and labour authorities properly enforce the social legislation for which they are responsible. Honourable Members, in recent weeks, farmers have raised their voice in protest, and over the coming months they will have the opportunity to raise their voice again: firstly, in our strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture and later in the European elections campaign. We cannot lose these opportunities. We must use them to listen, to engage and to work with our farmers. We must not let our differences be the cause of division. Too often, in our debates on food and farming, our differences present obstacles to finding solutions. But by combining our different perspectives, I believe we can create new solutions, and together we can grow a common vision for the future of European agriculture.