A ‘vision’ to reshape EU food and farming policies tabled by the European Commission today is weak and disappointing, according to the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Europe’s largest network of environmental organisations. 

Policy Manager for Agriculture and Food Systems, Célia Nyssens-James, said: “Having successfully steered all parts of the agri-food system to a historic and meaningful consensus on the future of farming in Europe, officials took only baby steps in the right direction today. Their vision lacks vision. The plans announced fall well short of the bold measures agreed unanimously and needed to support the kind of long-term, sustainable and climate-resilient farming Europe badly needs.”

The EEB is concerned by:

• A notable lack of environmental measures and targets or increased budget for environmental payments to farms, despite prominent recognition of the need for agriculture to respect planetary boundaries and contribute to climate action;
• A timid effort to reform area-based income support payments, which have for years driven the industrialisation of agriculture, failing to follow consensus recommendations, which urged that farm funds “should deliver income support for certain active farmers, but in a much more targeted way.” A previous version of the ‘vision’ suggested a shift of income payments away from the largest and wealthiest farms, but was removed in the final text.
• Signs that officials may dismantle the last remaining environmental rules attached to farm income payments in the name of “simplification”;
• An absence of plans to address meat and dairy-heavy diets that are harmful to the environment and human health;
• The promise to deliver on a long-standing commitment to halt the export of dangerous pesticides already banned in the EU was removed from the Commission’s vision late in the process, becoming a mere “issue to assess”

The EEB welcomed:

• A commitment to address Europe’s dependence on foreign fertilisers and grain to feed farm animals that cause major air and water pollution problems in Europe. This opens the door to policies to improve diets and boost environmental farming techniques that can deliver greater ‘strategic autonomy’;
• Another commitment to improve animal welfare rules and phase-out cruel cages in farming, in line with a popular European petition to ‘End the Cage Age’.

The EEB is part of a new board advising the Commission on food and farming policy. Many of its members have stated the consensus agreement should be implemented in full. The EEB is committed to working with the board to ensure that the consensus recommendations are better met as more concrete proposals are drafted.

ENDS

Contacts

Samantha Ibbott | Senior Communications Officer for Agriculture and Food Systems | samantha.ibbott@eeb.org 

Jack Hunter | EEB communications consultant | jack@fthe.fr