For months, Europe has been rocked by protests as farmers decry high costs and low prices, in addition to what they call unfair competition from Ukraine, and the constraints of environmental regulations. EU elites are worried that the farmers' movement will boost anti-establishment parties in the European elections this June. The EU Commission has put forward proposals to ease the burden on farmers, but environmental groups say this is a short-term political tactic that undermines elements of the EU's own Green Deal – and will ultimately lead to more climate chaos for everybody, including farmers. We unpick this with the EU's Agriculture Commissioner, Janusz Wojciechowski.
We begin with the recent limitations on certain Ukrainian food imports into the EU – a measure aimed at quelling the farmers' protests, but also one that has led to deep disappointment in Ukraine. We also ask whether EU restrictions on Ukrainian wheat – a key export for the war-torn Ukrainian economy – could be activated in the future. This is something the EU has not ruled out.
"The most effective instrument will be the safeguard clause," Commissioner Wojciechowski answers. "If the import will be too high, it will always be possible to react. A member state, or a group of member states, can give the request to the European Commission, which will be obliged to react within two months and to establish all the necessary measures – if the wheat market will be difficult."
Environmental groups have accused the European Commission of jeopardising the EU's climate goals and its own Green Deal, by proposing to remove four 'GAEC' – 'Good Agricultural And Environmental Conditions' – that farmers up until now had to meet in order to receive EU subsidies.
"I am sure that we achieve more for the environment, for climate, by giving incentives to farmers, instead of mandatory requirements," Wojciechowsk says. "I have very positive observations about [existing] eco-schemes, under which we have directly paid farmers who have voluntarily introduced good practices, and achieved even better results than the minimum environmental standards required by regulations. We believe in [climate] incentives, not forcing farmers."
Despite major concerns expressed by the European Environment Agency, Greenpeace and other bodies, Wojciechowski is adamant that "we are not reducing our climate and environmental ambitions. What we are reducing are the conditionalities on farmers. This is a step towards the reality of farmers, and towards the difficult situation they have faced after the Covid pandemic and the consequences of the war on Ukraine. They are not able to plan their activity in a normal way."
Programme prepared by Sophie Samaille, Agnès Le Cossec and Isabelle Romero
