The protests in all EU Member States pushed the EU Council to disrupt the agenda for the meeting. The Council is moving forwards now, and the European Commission must take immediate action after the proposed simplification measures presented last week. Farmers in the EU need effective simplification and to have the burden of controls on their farms reduced.
It is now finally being recognised that there is a new context (COVID-19, war in Ukraine, climate change and inflation) that calls for new effective decisions to provide urgent solutions for the agriculture season starting in a matter of weeks.
The package presented by the European Commission last Friday and discussed with the agricultural Ministers today, must be quickly concluded. Copa and Cogeca recognise the steps taken regarding adjustments to GAEC 8 (which was already decided although insufficient), and GAEC 1 which is yet to be, but we fail to see any tangible and immediate measures regarding GAECs 2, 6, and 7, and agro-environmental climate commitments built on these conditionality requirements.
These changes must also be accompanied by measures to ensure European farms receive a fair remuneration within the food chain and a better return from the markets thus contributing to a decent income.
Agricultural policy has become more and more complex over time - not only from an EU legislation point of view but also from the national implementing rules. Jointly, they have created the administrative limbo that farmers face on a daily basis, which pressures them to spend time at a desk, limiting the time they spend in the fields or with their animals while demotivating certain transitions.
