President Von der Leyen: a promising new beginning to be confirmed by concrete actions
Agriculture appears six times in the 30-pages programme of the newly appointed President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Ms von der Leyen is committed to strengthening the dialogue for “competitive and resilient” agriculture and food systems. Within the first 100 days of her term of office, the Commission’s President undertakes to present a new vision for agriculture and food, in the wake of the strategic dialogue launched at the end of the previous mandate.
The Commission is willing to correct imbalances in the food chain, protecting farmers from unfair trading practices. “Farmers should not be systematically forced to sell below the cost of production”, she writes, deeming it “vital” that farmers have a fair and sufficient income. An initiative to fight against cross-border unfair trade practices is expected no later than this autumn. Ms von der Leyen pledges to continue defending a European policy for farm incomes, and promises that the next budget for the Common Agricultural Policy will be “targeted and strike the right balance between incentives, investment and regulation”, turning its back on excessive bureaucracy, supporting family farming and rewarding those who work with nature.
The Green Deal is still there, mentioned four times. “We must stay on course, and we will do so for all our objectives, including those set in the context of the European Green Deal”, she pledge, adding in the direction of international partners that “we must listen more carefully and respond to the concerns of our partners affected by European legislation, in particular those linked to the European Green Deal” in a reference to regulations like the deforestation policy.
Overall, these strategic directions are laying down a positive course for the European agricultural policy. However, this needs to be materialized by concrete and tangible initatives for farmers, which will largely depend on the budgetary discussions that will start at the very beginning of the mandate.