Covid-19: PAN against postponement of Farm to Fork Strategy

Brussels, 3 April 2020- The PAN MEP, Francisco Guerreiro, is against the European People’s Party proposal to postpone, until at least after the Summer, the Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F).

Initially, this European Union’s strategy was to be announced in late March. However, due to Covid-19, the Commission postponed it to 29 April. With the support of the agricultural industry (COPA-COGECA), the EPP now calls for a second postponement “until at least after the summer”, as the group says in a press release.

“The pressure from the EPP, supported by the big producers, comes from its inability to connect the origins of Covid-19 with the unsustainable mode of production and consumption that we have been perpetuating as a society. The Strategy aims precisely to protect and improve our agricultural, forestry, and fisheries system, as well as mitigate the unsustainable habits that give rise to environmental and viral crises such as the ones we experience. In addition, the EPP fails to realize that the date of disclosure of the strategy does not mean that the ‘additional rules’ will come into effect on the same day, so nothing would be ‘imposed on farmers’ right away,” said Francisco Guerreiro.

In line with its European political family of the Greens/EFA, PAN considers that another postponement of the Strategy will compromise the goals established by the EU in the Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal and, also, the sustainable ambitions to be defined in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of 2021-2027, which is in the negotiation phase, and also behind schedule.

The threats to food security brought about by the virus must make us rethink the production system: we need a resilient system, local production and sale, and short distribution chains that protect farmers.

The F2F Strategy is needed to assist the next CAP in defining incentives for agriculture and to empower farmers in their work towards a sustainable food system. This, of course, is only possible if this transition is no longer portrayed as a threat by those who appear not to understand the urgency of the situation.

“Postponing F2F for the summer means postponing the start of planning for the future of developing a resilient and sustainable food distribution network. With its postponement proposal, the EPP unprotects farmers and consumers, putting them even more at risk in future economic and epidemic crises,” the MEP concluded.

The F2F Strategy is one of the great flags of the European Green Deal and aims to transform the way we produce and consume food in the EU, promising to focus on issues such as food waste and the labeling of products according to origin, nutritional value and sustainability.

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