Today, in COREPER, the Council adopted its position in preparation for negotiations with the European Parliament on the Commission’s proposed regulation to impose gradual tariffs on fertiliser imports from Russia and Belarus. Since the release of the Commission’s proposal, Copa and Cogeca have consistently warned European co-legislators about the significant risks that it presents to European agriculture and food security. The proposal, which came about without a proper impact assessment, offers neither short-term solutions nor a clear medium-to-long-term strategy for sourcing alternatives. As a result, Copa and Cogeca are dismayed and concerned by the Council’s position, which makes no substantial progress on the Commission’s original proposal.
Fertilisers are critical for crop and pasture growth and represent a major cost for European farmers. This issue is of vital importance to food security and sovereignty. The EU cannot afford to gamble with its agricultural input supplies. As the European Parliament prepares to vote on this matter, we hope our concerns will be heard.
Copa and Cogeca have adopted a balanced position that acknowledges the geopolitical challenges Europe faces and the need to reduce strategic dependencies. However, we also emphasise the importance of concrete measures to mitigate the immediate impact on the EU fertiliser market and to establish a medium-term diversification strategy.µ
In our position paper, Copa and Cogeca call on the Commission to immediately remove import duties on fertilizers from third countries outside Russia and Belarus. We also urge the prioritisation of manure use by granting derogations to the Nitrates Directive for processed manures and pastures. Furthermore, Copa and Cogeca are calling for a one-year postponement of the proposed tariff changes on fertilisers from Russia and Belarus, in order to allow for market adaptation. We also advocate for limiting changes to the tariffs to nitrogen fertilisers only, avoiding overlaps with existing anti-dumping measures and CBAM duties, and increasing import quota rates to pre-war levels. Finally, we urge the implementation of price monitoring and the activation of reliable, automatic safeguard measures whenever fertiliser prices exceed reference levels.
