As farmer protests continue, EU Commission’s dialogue slammed as ‘too late’

With the European Commission’s ‘strategic dialogue’ between policymakers, farmers and agriculture stakeholders due to start on Wednesday and Thursday (24-25 January), agriculture ministers on Tuesday said the initiative is coming too late.

The strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture was proposed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 13 September to foster “more dialogue and less polarisation” in agricultural policymaking by bringing together food producers, NGOs and various farming stakeholders to share views.

However, as farmers’ protests rage on across the EU, various agriculture ministers raised concerns about the timing of the EU executive’s plan.

“The [European] Commission has imposed on the [agricultural] sector environmental requirements (…) without due explanation, dialogue or financial support,” Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas told journalists before a meeting of agriculture ministers on Tuesday.

At the meeting itself, European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič insisted that the launch of the strategic dialogue was “timely” – though some ministers maintained that it was – in fact – too late.

“[The strategic dialogue] has only happened after a series of challenges, it could have begun earlier,” said Austrian agriculture minister Norbert Totschnig. 

Similarly, Planas said the EU executive should have launched the initiative “when the new proposals for the Common Agricultural Policy were presented in 2018” or at the time of the presentation of the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork – the EU’s flagship sustainable food policy. 

Asked how optimistic he was that the initiative would lead to meaningful results, Planas said it would be “difficult” to reach conclusions before the EU elections in June.

Working groups and four main topics

The stakeholders invited to the strategic dialogue – a total of 30 European food chain organisations and NGOs – will be divided into working groups to address four key issues: economic growth, sustainability, innovation and how to cover the whole value chain, Šefčovič told agriculture ministers on Tuesday.

“There will be sessions planned once per four to six weeks, depending on the outcome of the discussion,” he said, adding that the plan is to conclude the dialogue over the summer and present a vision plan before September, which would “contribute to the elaboration of the future guidelines for the work of the EU Commission”. 

The discussions will be chaired by Professor Peter Strohschneider, former chairman of the German government’s “Commission for the Future of Agriculture” (Zukunftskommission Landwirtschaft, ZKL). 

Von der Leyen will start strategic dialogue with food sector on 25 January

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Protests in the background

Since late 2023, farmers across several EU countries have been rallying.

As ministers met in Brussels, protests were escalating in France, and Lithuanian farmers set up a camp in Vilnius for several days. 

As promised to the national farmers’ organisations, Romanian agriculture minister Florin Barbu – who last week saw tractors in Romania blocking the border with Ukraine – suggested that EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski should resign if farmers’ demands were not met. 

“If we do not understand that our farmers need real support and not additional obstacles when it comes to increasing their production, then we can all go home and leave our respective functions,” he said, “including you, Commissioner”.  

Meanwhile, Polish agriculture minister Czesław Siekierski accused the EU executive of being out of touch with the agriculture sector. 

“I would like to encourage the Commission (…) to go out there and listen to the farmers,” he said, adding that, then, “maybe their perception would be different and the decision-making process would look differently”. 

The first iteration of the dialogue will start with a brainstorming session on Wednesday evening (24 January) and continue the following morning. 

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro/Nathalie Weatherald]

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