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The EU Commission has been silent for a long time on the agreed agricultural reform. Now the Commissioner responsible for the climate of Brussels, Timmermans, has spoken for the first time. Timmermans doesn’t want to let reform happen like this.
By Helga Schmidt, ARD-Studio Brussels
There was criticism of the environmental associations, Julia Klöckner considered that the commitment of the agriculture ministers marked the course of the future. At the end of October, the Federal Minister of Agriculture and her colleagues from the EU negotiated an agricultural reform aimed at making European agriculture more sustainable.
“After a long and hard fight, we have really created a milestone. A milestone for achieving a system change in European food and agricultural policy,” Klöckner said at the time.
The praise came from the German Farmers Association. Critics doubt that the European Union’s climate targets can be achieved with the agriculture ministers’ plans.
Timmermans: “I was very disappointed”
The EU Commission in Brussels held back at first. Frans Timmermans, Commissioner for Climate and Environment, said in an interview with the ARD studio Brusselswhat you think of the agrarian reform.
“I must honestly admit that I was very disappointed. Disappointed that the Council and the European Parliament have shown no more ambitions, that they are sticking to an agricultural policy that is not sustainable, that it cannot continue like this.”
It depends on the Dutch. Because the plans of the agriculture ministers are not the last word. Commissioner Timmermans will now negotiate with the Agriculture Ministers and the European Parliament what agricultural policy will look like for the next seven years. Their plans foresee that between 20 and 30 percent of direct payments to agriculture are linked to environmental requirements.
Agriculture will pay for it
The aspect of environmental requirements should be left to the Member States. Much remains voluntary for farmers. From Timmerman’s point of view, that’s not enough.
“If we want to be climate neutral by 2050, then many areas have to change. Agricultural policy as well. And farmers are very interested in this. Because if we don’t achieve this sustainability, then agriculture will pay off.”
Farmers are already suffering three summers in a row of drought, with crop failures. The EU Commissioner wants agricultural subsidies, the most important element of the EU budget, to be used to help farms in the costly conversion to more environmentally friendly management.
For this, specific objectives must be achieved. One of the goals is to reduce the amount of pesticides by 50 percent. 50 percent less also with antibiotics in animal fattening, to prevent resistance in human medicine. With fertilizer minus 20 percent. In total, a quarter of the agricultural land in Europe will be cultivated organically by 2030.
Brussels Green Deal a red cloth for many
Some EU countries are already that far, or almost as far, including Austria. Maybe they’ll support the climate commissioner. For other countries, the Brussels Commission’s Green Deal is a red rag. Julia Klöckner spoke about the visions of Brussels to the Association of German Farmers. That didn’t sound like support.
“These are visions that the Commission has issued. Some of them, I try to put it in a friendly way, float a little over the field and some have little to do with reality on the field.”
Negotiations on the final agricultural reform should end this year. It is open if the climate commissioner can convince the ministers and the majority of the European Parliament.
A power struggle is likely
There is much to be said about the power struggle. Timmermans says he doesn’t want to leave the future of agriculture to just agricultural politicians. Also due to the social imbalance of many farmers.
“Today 20 per cent of farmers get 80 per cent of European money. We can’t go on like this. I have to insist that more money goes to farmers and not just to large farms.”
Large farms receive more money because payments are tied to the area. According to the will of the agriculture ministers, it should stay that way. On the other hand, the concept of the Commission remains: it does not want to cut anything in the billions, agricultural subsidies are still the most important budget item. But the sum of almost 60 billion euros annually will be used as a monitoring instrument so that consideration for climate and biodiversity is rewarded more than ownership of land.
