Agricultural
EU summit promotes further relief for farmers
In recent weeks, farmers in several European countries have protested against excessive environmental regulations – like here in Spain. photo
© Álex Cámara/EUROPA PRESS/dpa
The farmers’ protests of the past few weeks are having an effect: the heads of government of the EU states are planning further relief for the farmers. However, the specific measures still need to be worked out.
The heads of state and government EU states are pushing ahead with further relief for farmers. A summit declaration agreed that the European Commission should continue to work immediately on support for agriculture.
In addition, the EU states themselves also want to work on further measures. The top politicians are thus continuing to reach out to European farmers. After sometimes violent farmers’ protests, the commission had already presented relief measures several times in the past few weeks. Among other things, environmental regulations should be relaxed and administrative costs reduced.
The statement also states that the position of farmers within the food supply chains should be strengthened and farmers should be given an adequate income. No concrete measures for this are mentioned. The summit declaration also addresses the question of how to deal with the sharp increase in exports of Ukrainian grain. The EU states and the Commission should therefore continue to work on proposals that would reintroduce tariffs on certain Ukrainian foods. More government support for farmers is also being examined.