The most burdensome requirements of the Green Deal will be changed; This is provided for in the draft regulation, which is supported by all countries, EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said on Thursday. It will be abolished, among other things: set-aside obligation.
The European Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, presented at the meeting of the Parliamentary Committees for Agriculture and European Affairs information on the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy, in the context of current and future challenges facing agricultural policy, with special emphasis on issues that directly affect Poland.
Farmers’ protests
Wojciechowski noted that the restriction caused by the need to implement the EU requirements of the Green Deal, as well as problems with importing products from Ukraine, were the reason for many protests in Poland. As he noted, agricultural protests did not only take place in EU countries, “but with greater or less intensity they take place in 65 countries around the world, including several EU countries.”
He pointed out that the reasons for farmers’ dissatisfaction are broader: an increase in production costs and a decrease in prices of agricultural products.
These are the long-term consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the destabilization of the world market. Russia, as a major player, exporting 50 million tons of wheat, has a destructive impact on this market and farmers around the world feel that
– emphasized the EU Commissioner
What do the changes mean?
He referred to the draft EU regulation on relaxing the conditionality standards on which direct payments depend. He stated that as regards the standard regarding the obligation to maintain land cover (the so-called GAEC 6), the Member State will be free to decide in which period of the year this obligation will be introduced. He pointed out that in the case of the crop rotation standard (the so-called GAEC 7), the country may decide to choose crop diversification as an alternative to crop rotation.
Wojciechowski added that the obligation to set aside 4% will be abolished. arable land (so-called GAEC 8), this will be replaced by an eco scheme for which farmers will receive money.
He noted that the changes will come into effect retroactively from January 1, 2024 and will therefore not be practically applicable.
Any farmer who does not meet these conditions will now be subject to possible sanctions
– explained the commissioner.
He said that this ordinance will be voted on in the last week of April this year.
He noted that there will still be five voluntary eco-schemes in force in Poland and that these are “good for farmers”.
As far as I know, 440,000 people used eco schemes in 2023. Polish farmers and 100 thousand from the ‘animal welfare’ program and the farmers I spoke to received much higher subsidies than they had
– said Wojciechowski.
Trade with Ukraine
The liberalization of trade with Ukraine is very beneficial for the entire European economy and also for the entire Polish economy; I know this is a statement that raises doubts
– noted the EU Commissioner.
He explained that in 2022, EU exports to Ukraine amounted to EUR 39 billion, and imports amounted to EUR 23 billion, meaning that the export surplus in the entire EU amounts to EUR 16 billion.
As for Poland, in 2023 exports amounted to 11.5 billion euros and imports amounted to 4 billion euros, so there is also a surplus of 7.5 billion euros. Wojciechowski noted that Poland is the largest exporter to Ukraine in general trade.
He admitted that the opposite is true in agricultural trade. EU exports to Ukraine amounted to EUR 3 billion in 2023, imports to EUR 11.5 billion.
Agriculture bears the price of the benefits enjoyed by other sectors of the economy (…), and therefore farmers must be helped
– said Wojciechowski.
He emphasized that he “has sought from the beginning (from May 2022) that agriculture would be included in the war-related public assistance system.” There was such support – EUR 10 billion allocated – and Poland is the largest beneficiary, with EUR 4 billion.
This is an unprecedented scale of aid; it’s never happened before
– said the commissioner.
At the same time, he recalled that the possibility of providing such assistance expires on June 30 this year. And “there is a major political task in continuing such aid.” The commissioner added that there was provisional agreement from member states to extend the agreement.
Clauses
Wojciechowski also noted that the EC presented a draft extension of the agreement liberalizing trade between the EU and Ukraine for another year, until June 2025. He emphasized that his objection meant that the agreement was not automatically extended, and that after discussions ‘important’ clauses were included in the agreement. it, including: incl. one that allows even one Member State to request the suspension of exports of products from Ukraine if they are excessively large.
Another clause mentioned by the Commissioner concerns sensitive products. Wojciechowski said that three products saw a very large increase in imports: poultry meat, eggs and sugar, and that quota limits were introduced here. He added that there was disagreement over the reference period against which these should be calculated; Ultimately, this will probably be the period from June 2021 to the end of 2023.
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PAP/bjg
Source: wPolityce