Debate: Farm to Fork Strategy
Date: MONDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Stella Kyriakides
Language: EN

And I was listening very carefully and I will try to address as many of the comments that I heard, although I think I won’t be able to address them all, so I will make an effort.  First of all, I just want to say that the targets announced in the farm to fork strategy express our political commitment – I have been saying this from the beginning – and our level of ambition and are set always on the basis of the latest available evidence. I heard the concerns of several MEPs, of MEP De Castro, MEPs Aguilera, Kuźmiuk, Decerle, on the issue to do with the impact assessments. This came up several times. I’m sorry if I haven’t mentioned all the MEPs that mentioned this. I want to be absolutely clear on this. Impact assessments are foreseen for all the major legislative initiatives announced in the farm to fork strategy. And I have repeated this a number of times, and I would really look forward to discussing these with you once they proceed. So this needs to be absolutely clear.  There were also several MEPs – MEP Lins, MEP Dorfmann, MEP Schneider and others – who spoke about why it took so long to publish the JRC study. Now the JRC study is not an impact assessment of the farm to fork or the biodiversity strategies. In fact, it explicitly states that it has limitations in the modelling used. For example, it includes only some of the objectives and the actions listed in the two strategies.  It was published as soon as possible, but when it became clear that these gaps could not be overcome quickly and that it would take too much time before the models could be improved to address these shortcomings, we decided that the study should be published without further delay because this would enable a discussion with the scientific community in order to improve our modelling capacity, and to be able to better address the critical consumer side of the market.  Now, at no point have any of us that have stood here – and I have found myself here several times – ever claimed that this transition would be without costs and without the need of adaptation. And of course, the essential question is how we absorb these costs. MEP Lins and MEP Dorfmann raised that. And this is why it’s so important that we need to ensure an ambitious implementation of the new CAP and put the measures set out in the farm to fork strategy to mitigate risks.  I heard all your concerns very carefully and we need the support and to make the most out of the CAP and the NextGeneration funds and any other investment at national level in order to support our farmers. It’s very important for the Member States to come forward with this and to make this a win-win situation. And overall, the CAP strategic plans will present how each Member State will achieve the nine specific objectives related to the environment, climate and social dimensions of sustainability. So the CAP strategic plans are going to be key in promoting sustainable practices on farms.  MEP Mélin, and I don’t want to let this go because it was almost stated as a fact, mentioned the issue to do with nutri score. At this stage, I’ve said this before, no choice has been made on a future EU harmonised front-of-pack scheme. The choice is going to be based again on a thorough impact assessment, extensive stakeholder consultation and scientific advice, and any proposed scheme needs to be science- and evidence-based. And this is why we have already requested scientific advice from the European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA) and the scientific literature review from the JRC.  MEP Sardone and Mélin also talked about penalising the Mediterranean diets and other products of a healthy diet. We are very aware of the specificities of some agricultural food products and let me assure you that these elements are going to be taken fully into account in our assessment.  And I want to touch on what MEP Schneider said because she spoke about education and this is so important. This is the importance of consumer education, and we need to use front-of-pack nutrition labelling as a useful tool in helping consumers make informed and healthy choices. We need to raise awareness and communication of education in order to help and we will continue to provide financial and administrative support to Member States for promoting healthy lifestyles and eating habits.  Several MEPs raised the issue to do with a level playing field between third countries and EU producers. Yes, and we are deploying all efforts to establish partnerships to move towards sustainable food systems globally so that EU farmers are not disadvantaged compared to third country producers. And we are working on this and I could give examples, but I think I have already gone over my time. And antimicrobial resistance or AMR – AMR is a huge issue. I call it the silent pandemic. It has become even more apparent with this pandemic of COVID-19 that we are going through, and what I can assure you is that – and it was, I think MEP Polfjärd and Chahim – is that we’re going to make every effort to promote a one health approach that protects everyone. Addressing AMRs through one health continues to be my priority, and we will continue to implement our 2017 action plan against AMR. We need to set ambitious AMR targets on the farm to fork, and these will be supported by the Veterinary Medicine Regulation.  And last but not least, MEP Guteland raised the issue to do with animal welfare, an issue very close to many of our hearts, and we are proceeding forward with an impact assessment, which has already been launched, on the end the cage age initiative, and we will be taking into account all stakeholders and listening to everyone before we move ahead.  And I want to end by saying this: we need to move forward together. We need to be ambitious, we need to be inspired. But most of all, we need to be inclusive and in order to make farm to fork a reality it needs to benefit the consumers, it needs to benefit the farmers, it needs to benefit the producers, and it needs to benefit the environment.  And by being inclusive, by talking – and I’m going to always be available to discuss again and again because I heard your concerns – by doing this, I believe that we can move forward and set the EU on the path to a sustainable future.