It’s no secret that farmers across the EU have grown increasingly frustrated with the state of their industry. Profitability is falling, competition from abroad is fierce, and worries about paperwork and bureaucracy continue to mount. Fewer young people are taking over the family farm, opting for other careers instead. On top of these long-standing challenges, the war in Iran is adding new pressures, particularly with rising fertiliser costs. We sat down to discuss these issues with the EU’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen.
"The war going on in the Middle East is having a huge impact on our economy," Hansen tells us. "We have trade flows going through these lanes. We are dependent on imports from there when it comes to oil and LNG (liquefied natural gas). But also, fertilisers are going through the affected region. Production sites (for fertilisers) are halted. So, this is creating problems for the agricultural sector. And generally speaking, our economy will have issues to cope with the situation."
For Hansen, the war highlights the EU’s vulnerability when it comes to supply chains. "One of our weaknesses is that we are heavily dependent on imports from third countries, on fertilisers and on energy," Hansen says. "Fertilizer prices were going up by 60% since 2020. So, this was already putting cereal producers really on edge. This is not a sustainable situation. We need to find solutions. We have the agricultural reserve, but this is of course not nearly sufficient. So, we have to find other possibilities to help farmers to cope with this situation."
We ask Hansen if the Commission has made a risky political gamble by provisionally applying the controversial EU-Mercosur trade agreement (with Latin American countries), despite opposition from farmers, trade unions, and MEPs in the EU Parliament.
"Well, it would not be the first time that a trade agreement is provisionally applied," Hansen answers. "There are precedents for that. And there was a very clear mandate from the (EU) Council side to go for this provisional application. The Parliament decided not to immediately vote on the consent. It is of course free to do so." Hansen is adamant that "many sectors are really wishing for this agreement. The wine and spirits sector; the dairy sector; the olive oil sector; the ham sector of Italy and Spain as well. This is the economic reality."
Christophe Hansen insists that the Commission’s simplification agenda does not mean a watering down of environmental standards in agriculture, particularly when it comes to pesticides. This despite major concerns flagged up by the likes of the European Environmental Bureau and the Pesticides Action Network Europe.
"The approval of products is currently a very long procedure which, unfortunately, is blocking, for example, the marketing of new biopesticides that are low-risk substances. Those (new products) have the same approval time - 7 to 8 to 10 years. This is too slow. And when I speak to the manufacturers of these new alternatives to the classic chemical products, they say, ‘well, we are going to move to the United States’. We funded the research, and then they go elsewhere because our procedures are too slow. That has to change. Otherwise, we will not be competitive with anybody in the world anymore."
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Christophe HANSEN Luxembourgish MEP, European People's Party
English (US) · 