Von der Leyen launches a “strategic dialogue” platform to calm European farmers’ anger

The blockade of trucks in France, the protests in Germany, Poland or Romania, the demonstrations in Brussels. farmers’ anger Against the European Green Agreement, unfair competition from third countries and impoverishment of the sector have spread throughout the EU and are in danger of becoming so. Battle field in the next european elections Of June. Aware of the strength of this discontent and its destabilizing potential, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der LeyenLaunched this Thursday About the future of “strategic dialogue” Agriculture To try to allay the apprehensions of the sector and reconcile the situation with the green agenda.

The dialogue is one of the commitments that the German has still not confirmed whether she will run as a candidate for a second term as head of the Commission, which was considered within the framework of the debate on the status of the Union last September. I went. A promise motivated by the recognition of “political reality” and the controversy generated by the processing of the Nature Restoration Law a few months earlier, the first European law to recover biodiversity in the EU, and the conservatives’ call to stop the European green agenda.

They tried without success with the Restitution Law – it is in the final stages of processing – but unrest in the countryside has not only not disappeared, but the results of the latest protests and the farmer-citizen movement show that it is even more so. Has increased. The Netherlands, which represents the Dutch agricultural sector, won last year’s provincial elections and managed to cement its place among Dutch voters as the fifth force.

“We all think there is a Growing division and polarization, “We all equally feel the urgency that things must improve,” the German said Thursday during the opening of a new forum calling for a vision on the future of the EU’s agriculture and food system. , Teacher Peter Stroschneider, An expert in the field who was already responsible for leading a similar forum in Germany in 2021.

Report at the end of summer

The idea of ​​the Forum, which will meet at most every six weeks, is to build bridges between the actors involved: approximately thirty representatives of the agri-food chain, cooperatives, companies, rural communities, non-governmental organizations and representatives of civil society, as well as the public. authority. All of them have been called upon to contribute their views and ideas which will culminate in Report at the end of the summer. It aims to answer questions such as farmers’ remuneration, the sustainability of their farming practices, the role or competitiveness of innovation and technology. According to sources close to the forum, the intention is that the report provide recommendations and put forward possible scenarios for the future of the sector.

“Their work is extremely important and they deserve fair remuneration for their work. Recognizing the “great effort”, von der Leyen assured, “Our goal is to support their livelihoods and guarantee European food security.” What does it do european green deal, “We all live with and by nature. And although we don’t always agree, we all agree that the challenges are increasing. Be it competition abroad or overregulation at home, climate change, biodiversity loss or demographic decline. Agriculture and food in Europe need a long-term perspective, a predictable path to meet these challenges,” he claimed.