European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans delivers a speech on European Green Deal, biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies in May 2020. File picture: John Thys/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
European Parliament support for the EU's Farm to Fork and biodiversity strategy has melted away, as the war in Ukraine brings food security worries to the fore.
The largest political group in the parliament has called on the European Commission to postpone all legislation that could reduce food production.
"The commission must review the targets and timetable of the Farm to Fork and the biodiversity strategy law proposals, notably the ones concerning plant protection products, nature restoration, and supply chain due diligence", said Herbert Dorfmann, MEP, the European People’s Party spokesman on the parliament’s agriculture committee.
"The commission must also conclude a thorough impact assessment of these proposals, as the EPP Group has been demanding for a long time”, Mr Dorfmann added.
The parliament was until recently a driving force on which the commission was counting to go forward with the radical Farm to Fork (F2F) and biodiversity plans, but that support has been fragmented by the war in Ukraine, says the high-powered Farm Europe think tank.
In October 2021, the parliament voted 452 in favour, 170 against, 76 abstentions, to support the F2F strategy. But more recent votes to do with F2F were passed by only a few votes.
Farm Europe, which supports the transition to a more climate and environment-friendly agriculture, which is the F2F's objective, says a new political consensus on F2f is now needed, if legislation advancing it is to get through the parliament.
Despite the Covid and Ukraine crises, F2F has remained a flagship project of the European Commission, as part of its Green Deal to make the EU the world’s first climate-neutral continent.
But Farm Europe says F2F will now require guarantees it will not undermine food security or the viability of EU farms, if it is to survive politically.
The main F2F targets for 2030 include a 50% cut in use of chemical pesticides, fertilisers reduced by at least 20%, antimicrobials for farmed animals reduced by 50%, and the organically farmed area to reach at least 25%.
In Ireland, the IFA has called for a full review of the EU's Green Deal, Farm-to-Fork, and Common Agricultural Policy, to prioritise food security.
Initially, the parliament welcomed and increased the F2F ambitions, by green lighting initiatives such as an EU-wide nutritional label, reducing consumption of meat and highly processed foods, and reinforcing animal welfare.
Only the parliament's Identity and Democracy and Conservatives and Reformists group voted almost unanimously against, claiming the proposals did not respect the interest of farmers.
However, last month, centre parties split, with the centre-right EPP almost unanimously supporting a revision and possibly suspension of F2F targets, while the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) strongly voted for maintaining F2F targets. The EPP has 177 seats, S&D has 145, the second biggest grouping.
The EPP has asked the commission to put on hold F2F plans such as a pesticide directive and nature restoration law that might undermine EU food production. It says the F2F plan to reduce production areas by 10% cannot be implemented.
The S&D now supports re-design of the EU food system for food security independent from imports.
Renew Europe, the third-largest political group in the Parliament, with 102 seats, also now wants food security for the continent, but says F2F and Green Deal objectives should not be undermined.
The Greens/EFA (72 MEPs) continues to strongly defend the Green Deal, F2F, and biodiversity strategies, and says “no measures taken during the Ukrainian crisis should lead to an increase in the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers”.
GUE/NGL (the left), with 39 seats, now supports strengthened EU food security, but says the priority remains the fight against climate change and loss of biodiversity, and the Ukrainian conflict should not be used as an excuse to even temporarily delay Green Deal and F2F progress.
Identity & Democracy, with 65 seats, and the European Conservationists and Reformists, with 64 seats, have always opposed the Farm to Fork Strategy, advocating for a "business as usual" model of farming. They have renewed their calls for a comprehensive cumulative impact assessment of the Green Deal targets, and suspension of all initiatives that negatively impact food production.
The ID group explicitly wants the postponement of F2F environmental targets.
Read MoreStephen Cadogan: War could force relaxation of Green Deal
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