Next week, the European Commission will present new proposals aimed at resolving the situation with farmers’ protests in the EU. Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said this in an interview with RMF24, Kommersant Ukrainian reports
The European Commissioner said that this year there will be no penalties for farmers who do not comply with environmental or climate standards. And in 2025-2027, i.e. by the end of the budget period, changes will be made to mitigate the existing requirements of the Green Deal.
“This will be a package of decisions that should relieve farmers of all worries, not so much about the Green Deal as about its elements that are included in the Common Agricultural Policy,”
– Wojciechowski said.
The package will include a complete abandonment of the requirement for farmers to cover 4% of their land with soil. The previous EU proposal included only a partial exemption from this obligation, as farmers still had to grow legumes (nitrogen-fixing plants) to avoid fines.
Farmers will still be able to cultivate their land under steam, but it will be a voluntary action for which they will receive additional rewards. There will also be solutions that ease the strict requirements for crop rotation and the mandatory use of winter soil cover, i.e. the preservation of winter crops or stubble. In the future, each country will be able to choose the period of crop rotation.
Farms with an area of up to 10 hectares will be exempt from monitoring compliance with environmental conditions. For example, in Poland, farms of up to 10 hectares account for 3/4 of all agricultural farms.
Green Deal
TheEuropean Green Deal is a set of measures aimed at achieving climate neutrality in the EU by 2050. Among other things, it provides for a number of restrictions and requirements for European farmers to reduce their negative impact on the environment. In particular, the Farm to Fork strategy aims to reduce the use of pesticides and fertilisers, while the biodiversity policy provides for restrictions on arable land in the EU. Polish farmers argue that these requirements do not apply to the cultivation of Ukrainian agricultural products, so Ukrainian producers are in an advantageous position compared to them.