Massimiliano Giansanti has been elected president of Copa, the influential EU umbrella organisation for farmers’ unions, cementing Italians’ presence in key positions of the EU agricultural bubble.
It’s an unwritten rule in Brussels that the agriculture commissioner’s portfolio not often goes to the EU’s high farming gamers—France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. Collectively, these 4 nations accounted for 58% of the whole worth of the EU’s agricultural manufacturing in 2023, in line with Eurostat.
There was only one exception: Italy’s Carlo Scarascia-Mugnozza, who held the publish briefly from 1972 to 1973 in the course of the Mansholt Fee – himself a farmer and one of many fathers of recent European agriculture.
However potential affect on EU coverage doesn’t rely solely on the Commissioner’s nationality.
Christophe Hansen is poised to turn out to be the second Luxembourgish politician to safe the agriculture portfolio – if he survives the European Parliament grilling, after all.
Nevertheless, Hansen’s boss, if confirmed, will likely be Italy’s Raffaele Fitto because the Fee’s government vice-president for cohesion and reforms. Fitto has been tasked with bettering the “competitiveness, resilience, and sustainability of the meals and farming sector” whereas prioritising help for farmers who want it most.
The presence of Italians presence in key positions within the EU agricultural bubble was additional cemented right now (27 September). Massimiliano Giansanti, the top of Italy’s oldest farming affiliation, Confagricoltura, has been elected president of Copa, the influential EU umbrella organisation for farmers’ unions.
“The approaching years will outline the way forward for European agriculture,” Giansanti – a Roman agricultural entrepreneur who produces cereals, kiwifruit, milk and livestock merchandise – stated after his election, citing the enlargement and local weather change as a number of the most urgent points affecting the bloc’s farmers.
Italy additionally has the most important presence within the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee (AGRI), with 9 full members and 6 substitutes. Of the eight political teams represented, 4 are led by Italians on agriculture issues.
The 2 largest parliamentary teams – the centre-right European Folks’s Occasion (EPP) and the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) – have appointed Italians as AGRI coordinators: Herbert Dorfmann for the EPP and Dario Nardella for the S&D.
On the far proper, Carlo Fidanza coordinates the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) in AGRI, whereas Raffaele Stancanelli leads the newly fashioned Patriots for Europe (PfE).
The ENVI Committee, which covers all of the meals issues of safety, is chaired by one other Italian, Antonio Decaro (S&D).
Many of those jobs will solely final for half of the mandate, however no less than for the primary few years we are able to say that agri-food coverage in Brussels will converse Italian.
Nibbles of the week
European Fee challenges China dairy probe at WTO. In an surprising transfer, the EU government on Monday (23 September) launched consultations on the World Commerce Organisation (WTO) towards an ongoing investigation by the Beijing authorities into the compatibility of EU subsidies with world commerce guidelines.
EU nations again proposal to downgrade wolf safety standing. A majority of EU ambassadors on Wednesday (25 September) supported a European Fee proposal to decrease the safety standing of wolves in Europe, marking an important first step in the direction of altering the present guidelines underneath the Bern Conference.
Tensions rise between the EU and Norway over fishing quotas. On the Agrifish Council on Monday (23 September), EU agriculture ministers known as on the European Fee to crack down on Norway for exceeding the quotas on sure species.
EU nations reiterate calls to extend de minimis state support. Within the Council, a complete of 16 nations backed a proposal offered by Germany and France to increase the restrict for de minimis state support within the agricultural sector to €50,000 per farm over three years, EU diplomats informed Euractiv. A brand new draft regulation is anticipated to be offered by the Fee this autumn, the sources added.
European Fee prompts disaster reserve for 5 nations. On the identical day, the EU government proposed to allocate €119.7 million from the agricultural reserve to assist farmers affected by excessive climate situations in Bulgaria, Germany, Estonia, Italy and Romania.
Ministers name for a delay in pesticide monitoring obligations. A coalition of no less than 17 agriculture ministers within the Agrifish Council, led by Poland, has pushed to delay new obligations to electronically observe pesticide use in an extra effort to cut back the burden on farmers.
The anti-deforestation saga goes on. On Wednesday (25 September), in two parallel statements, the German Ministry of Agriculture and 28 organisations from the agri-food, forestry and timber-derived sectors raised the alarm over the Fee’s intention to stay to the present timeline for the EU’s anti-deforestation regulation (EUDR).
EU auditors say the bloc should step up help for natural market. On the EU Natural Farming Day on Monday (23 September), the European Courtroom of Auditors (ECA) printed a report warning that the bloc will miss its goal of 25% natural farmland by 2030 as a result of weak help. On the identical day, the EU government introduced the winners of the third version of the EU Natural Awards.
In the meantime, EU farm subsidies inflate fragrant herb crops in southern France. Declarations for natural coriander cultivation have boomed in Occitanie this yr, as farmers profit from beneficiant support to transform to the bio cultivation of fragrant herbs, amid rising criticism within the sector of “misappropriation” of funds.
Eurostat information exhibits slight enhance in meals waste. Each European wasted 132 kg of meals per capita in 2022, according to the newest Eurostat information printed on Friday (27 September). General, the EU generated 59.2 million tonnes of meals waste, with households accounting for greater than half (54%). In 2021, the waste per capita was 131 kg, and the whole was 58.4 million tonnes.
Rising costs push EU agrifood commerce surplus worth to new excessive. Between January and June 2024, the EU’s agri-food commerce surplus reached €33.7 billion, a rise of €1.5 billion in comparison with the identical interval in 2023, in line with a report printed right now (27 September) by the European Fee. EU exports reached €116.4 billion (+1% in comparison with the identical interval in 2023), primarily as a result of rising costs for olive oil and occasional, tea and cocoa. Imports remained secure at €82.7 billion.
[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro and Daniel Eck]
