Summary of the day
Farmers continued protesting in multiple European countries as politicians grapple with how to respond ahead of European elections in June.
In Spain, thousands of tractors blocked roads across the country.
Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission executive vice-president, told MEPs during a plenary debate on agriculture that there is a need for a “future where farming and nature go hand in hand in balance.”
He acknowledged the current polarisation and said it’s imperative to bring all stakeholders together to define a common vision.
Manfred Weber, head of the centre-right European People’s party group, said “we are in favour of protecting the environment, but together with farmers, not against them.”
Iratxe García Pérez, president of the Socialists and Democrats group, said "the far right is looking “to renationalise agriculture, which would be devestating for European farms.”
Tilly Mets, a Green MEP, said the groups calls “on the Commission to launch an investigation into how powerful agri-food oligopolies impact farmers’ incomes and propose guidelines for an agri-food windfall tax.”
Copa and Cogeca, the European farming lobby, responded to the debate, saying “most of what was said was a political blame game, but not enough was said about solutions for the future of the sector.”
The group adde that “it’s time to listen to those who work the land on a daily basis and who have experience in the field, farmers and their cooperatives. And that goes for both before and after the elections.”
Spain’s opposition conservative People’s party (PP) accused prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s socialist-led coalition government of putting “environmental dogmatism” before farmers’ needs.
The Spanish prime minister defended his government’s record on farming and the countryside in very robust terms, saying the opposition is “like methanol - colourless, highly flammable and very toxic”.
Greenpeace has criticised the European parliament vote today on new genomic techniques (NGTs).
Greenpeace campaigner Eva Corral said:
Members of the European Parliament have failed in their duty to protect people’s health, the environment and the future of European farming.
European farmers will pay a high price, becoming increasingly dependent on a few seed firms, and risk getting sued by the multinationals who own patented GMOs.
With no credible proof that new GMOs can withstand the impacts of climate change, growing corporate control in the food system means farmers could find it harder to access and develop climate resilient, locally-adapted plants.
What are farmers saying today?
“It is totally unfair competition,” citrus farmer Felipe Domenech told Reuters at the gates of the port in Castellon in Spain. “If fruit comes from abroad it should enter under the same conditions.”
Police in Sicily arrest suspected mafia members over EU subsidies fraud
Police on the Italian island of Sicily have arrested 37 people, some of them alleged mafia members, as part of an investigation into a large-scale fraud involving EU agricultural subsidies.
After a previous investigation, 91 individuals were convicted in November 2022 for fraudulently receiving more than €5m (£4.3m) in subsidies between 2010 and 2017.
The subsidies included funds for thousands of hectares of “ghost” farmland in the eastern part of Sicily, which either did not exist, had been stolen from farmers, or was owned by the Italian state or regional government.
Investigators involved in the original investigation said mafia clans had obtained the funds thanks to the help of “white-collar workers” who had enabled members to negotiate the bureaucratic world of EU funding. Participants also allegedly staged hundreds of fraudulent operations against Agea, the Italian agency that issues agricultural funding.
The latest investigation was launched last year and relied on the testimonies of three collaborators who were part of the Batanesi mafia group, one of the oldest crime families on the island. The fraud allegedly involved more than 150 companies. The charges include criminal association, extortion, fraudulent transfer of assets, fraud against the state, money laundering and self-laundering, and attempted private violence.
Election Watch: ECR move fuels criticism
The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European parliament today welcomed French MEP Nicolas Bay as a member. Bay is vice-president of Reconquête, a party founded by far-right figure Éric Zemmour.
ECR, whose member parties include Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, Poland’s Law and Justice and Spain’s Vox, is now facing criticism from the centre for its decision.
Reconquête rejoint officiellement les conservateurs européens (@ecrgroup).
— Eric Zemmour (@ZemmourEric) February 7, 2024
Nos députés européens siégeront donc aux côtés de nos alliés, dont les idées montent en puissance partout dans le continent.#AvecMarion, plus nous aurons de députés, plus la droite sera forte au…
By welcoming @Reconquete_off, the only thing @ecrgroup has conquered is its definitive ban from political negotiations – even before the arrival of Orbán.@RenewEurope will not let the European far right destroy our European values in Parliament. https://t.co/yv7v8C2JLe
— Valérie Hayer (@ValerieHayer) February 7, 2024
Meloni building an alliance with Zemmour in the European Parliament ! Orbán next…
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) February 7, 2024
There ends the pretence she can be a normalised or respectable face for Europe ! pic.twitter.com/oaMhfckTVc
Updated
European parliament approves position on New Genomic Techniques
The European parliament today adopted its position on a proposal on New Genomic Techniques (NGTs).
“The objective is to make the food system more sustainable and resilient by developing improved plant varieties that are climate resilient, pest resistant, and give higher yields or that require fewer fertilisers and pesticides,” the parliament said.
Currently, all plants obtained by NGTs are subject to the same rules as genetically modified organism (GMOs).
MEPs agree with the proposal to have two different categories and two sets of rules for NGT plants. NGT plants considered equivalent to conventional ones (NGT 1 plants) would be exempted from the requirements of the GMO legislation, whereas other NGT plants (NGT 2 plants) would still have to follow stricter requirements.
307 MEPs voted in favour, with 263 against and 41 abstentions.
Swedish centre-right MEP Jessica Polfjärd celebrated the vote.
A game changer for sustainable agriculture and a clear signal that we embrace science and support our farmers.
Historic step forward: the European Parliament supports my proposal for sustainable use of new genomic techniques (NGT).
— Jessica Polfjärd (@jessicapolfjard) February 7, 2024
A game changer for sustainable agriculture and a clear signal that we embrace science and support our farmers.@EPPGroup leads the way 🌱
Updated
Marcel Ciolacu, Romania’s prime minister, said today that the EU “needs to tackle foreign interference while providing adequate answers to people’s & farmers’ demands.”
Good discussion with the #EU ambassadors present in RO at the @EU2024BE diplomatic meeting.
— Marcel Ciolacu (@CiolacuMarcel) February 7, 2024
I'm confident that 🇷🇴 will become a crucial & full #Schengen member state.
The 🇪🇺 needs to tackle foreign interference while providing adequate answers to people's & farmers' demands. pic.twitter.com/bKMFMv4zm6
And here are images from Greece, where farmers are also protesting today.
Animal rights groups decry ‘brutal’ killing of bear by Italian forestry police
Animal rights activists have decried the “brutal” culling of a bear by forestry police in Trentino following orders from the president of the mountainous northern Italian province.
M90, a brown bear, was deemed to be a “danger to public security” after the animal was alleged to have intentionally followed people on three occasions, most recently a couple of hikers who were walking along a mountain path 1,400 metres above the town of Ortisé in the Val di Sole.
The “excessively confident” bear, who was identified by its radio collar and ear markings, was also seen on 12 occasions “in residential areas or in the immediate vicinity of permanent dwellings”, provincial authorities said.
Officials said Italy’s environmental institute Ispra had confirmed the need to “remove M90 as soon as possible”. The bear was traced to a forested area in the lower Val di Sole on Tuesday and put down.
The killing comes amid ongoing legal battles between the president of Trentino, Maurizio Fugatti, and animal rights groups over how to deal with bears that are deemed dangerous.
Read the full story here.
Here are the latest images from farmers’ protests in Spain.
Updated
Thousands of tractors block roads across Spain
Spanish farmers are staging another day of protests, with thousands of tractors blocking roads across the country and advancing on Barcelona.
Catalonia’s regional police force, the Mossos d’Esquadra, is accompanying some of the protesters in the interests of safety and is recommending that people in the region minimise travel while the demonstrations continue.
The force is also deploying officers across Barcelona to keep traffic flowing amid the protests.
Seguim amb el dispositiu de les mobilitzacions agràries que es desplacen a Barcelona per tal de garantir i compatibilitzar el dret de manifestació amb les afectacions al trànsit pic.twitter.com/luhcaR5t9B
— Mossos (@mossos) February 7, 2024
The protests have also been the topic of debate and recrimination in the Spanish congress this morning.
The opposition conservative People’s party (PP) has accused prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s socialist-led coalition government of putting “environmental dogmatism” before farmers’ needs.
“Sánchez would only show a real interest in the countryside if his continuity in the Moncloa [palace] was at stake,” the PP’s leader, Alberto Núñez Feijoo, told MPs.
La agricultura no aguanta el dogmatismo ambiental de este Gobierno.
— Alberto Núñez Feijóo (@NunezFeijoo) February 7, 2024
Sánchez solo mostraría interés real por el campo si estuviese en juego su continuidad en La Moncloa. pic.twitter.com/4JqswwR4ut
The prime minister, meanwhile, has defended his government’s record on farming and the countryside in very robust terms, telling Feijóo that his opposition is “like methanol - colourless, highly flammable and very toxic”.
Sánchez has also laid into the far-right Vox party - which likes to portray itself as the defender of rural Spain and its economy and traditions - saying its plans for the countryside are “a lethal mix of climate denial and anti-Europeanism”.
Señor Feijóo, su oposición es como el metanol: incolora, altamente inflamable y muy tóxica. pic.twitter.com/NHVJm9B1j6
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) February 7, 2024
Farming lobby calls EU debate 'blame game', says it's time to listen
Copa and Cogeca, the European farming lobby, has responded to this morning’s debate in the European parliament.
“Most of what was said was a political blame game, but not enough was said about solutions for the future of the sector!” the group wrote.
It added that “if MEPs are serious about giving farming community new tools and perspectives, they will have a chance to shine by voting in favour of the NGTs” – a reference to plants produced by certain “new genomic techniques”.
The farming lobby added:
Over the last few weeks in Brussels we have seen and read all possible opinions … It’s time to listen to those who work the land on a daily basis and who have experience in the field, farmers and their cooperatives. And that goes for both before and after the elections.
This morning @Europarl_EN held a debate on the current 🇪🇺 farmer protests. Most of what was said was a political blame game, but not enough was said about solutions for the future of the sector!
— COPA-COGECA (@COPACOGECA) February 7, 2024
This afternoon, if MEPs are serious about giving 🇪🇺 farming community new tools and… https://t.co/XJwblBCJge
Updated
Farmers are protesting in Spain this morning.
Iratxe García Pérez, president of the Socialists and Democrats group, said in the debate:
We need more dialogue and less polarisation.
Farmers need to be aware that the dispute between the right and the far right is damaging to their interests, because the far right are not looking to increase farming subsidies, what they are looking to do is to renationalise agriculture, which would be devestating for European farms.
We need to talk to and listen to farmers, the protests deserve a clear response from the Commission and member states.
Ahead of today’s debate, Tilly Mets, a Green member of the European parliament’s agriculture committee, said that “the farmers’ protests come as no surprise to us.”
For too long, the EU agricultural policies have favoured big agri interest over the small farmers. And hard working farmers find it difficult to make ends meet.
She added:
Farmers are squeezed between high input costs and low retail prices. The Greens/EFA call on the Commission to launch an investigation into how powerful agri-food oligopolies impact farmers’ incomes and propose guidelines for an agri-food windfall tax.
We need fair conditions for our farmers and that includes trade deals, which is why we also call for an end to the Mercosur fair trade agreement.
A thorough reform of the CAP, including the Common Market Organisation, is necessary to ensure a fair distribution of support, rural job creation, and progress in the ecological transition.
Manfred Weber, head of the centre-right European People’s party group, said in the European parliament today that agriculture is a policy area of its own.
Agriculture policy is also about the future of rural areas, and there are major challenges ahead of us, he stressed.
We as the EPP are in favour of biodiversity, water protection, animal welfare protection – we must tackle the challenges of our time head-on. But we cannot pursue ideological policies – we have to base our policies on arguments and expertise.
He added:
Farmers know that they can depend on us. We will be their advocate. We have fought hard. Yes we are in favour of biodiversity protection, yes we are in favour of protecting the environment, but together with farmers, not against them.
Updated
Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission executive vice-president, told MEPs this morning that while the agriculture sector has shown “remarkable resilience,” Europe “must ensure that our food system is also fit for the future.”
With the Green Deal we have already put in place an ambitious roadmap to lead us to that future. And yet the reality of climate change, biodiversity loss, growing resource scarcity, price shocks and an increasingly competitive global market is having a huge impact on the farming sector and rural communities.
We have seen from the farmers protesting on the streets of Europe that many of them feel trapped, that their needs are not being met.
So we must act to secure the future of the sector, and those who work within it, and those who benefit from it – namely, all of us.
He described the need for a “future where farming and nature go hand in hand in balance.”
Šefčovič acknowledged the polarisation and said it’s imperative to bring all stakeholders together to define a common vision.
Our farmers deserve to make a decent living. And that will only happen if we work together to achieve our climate and biodiversity goals.
Updated
Hadja Lahbib, the Belgian foreign minister told the European parliament this morning that “the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU has taken note on the measures announced by the Commission to respond to the demand of our farmers.”
“We have put the item on the agenda of the next meeting of the Agrifisheries Council, which will take place on February 26, to allow the ministers of agriculture to express their views on the measures proposed by the Commission as well as on the possible need for further measures,” she said.
The minister added:
As the European Council pointed out on February 1, the European Common Agricultural Policy has an essential role to play. However, the rules adopted in 2021 to reform the CAP need to be reassessed in the light of current realities,” she said, noting that the rules were presented before COVID and before Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Updated
Protests continue as politicians grapple with farmers' anger
It’s another day of farmers’ protests and debates over the future of agriculture in Europe.
From Spain to Bulgaria, farmers want to have their voices heard. Meanwhile, the European parliament is debating empowering farmers and rural communities.
Stay tuned for updates.
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