Political hotspot September 2024
In June 2024, EU citizens elected a new European Parliament, which confirmed Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission President shortly after. Prior to her re-election, the President published political guidelines for the next European Commission (2024-2029) providing a strategic roadmap for the coming European Commission. President von der Leyen’s guidelines have a place for food and farming. Just this week, President von der Leyen unveiled her choice for the new college of commissioners, pending positive hearings at the European Parliament.
An EU vision for agriculture and food
According to the guidelines, the Commission’s vision will consider ensuring the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of the farming sector within our planetary boundaries. The President also stated the need to ensure farmers with fair and sufficient incomes,emphasizing the need to reward farmers that are working with nature, preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems.
As European organic movement, we consider this an important step in the right direction and one of our key demands. Farmers using sustainable production methods, such as organic farmers, should get sufficient payments to reward them for their contribution to preserving and improving public goods – for example better water and soil quality.
While emphasising the need to build a competitive and resilient agri-food system, the Commission President stressed the Strategic Dialogue’s importance. Initiated during her September 2023 State of the Union speech, the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture kicked off in January 2024 and, over several months, brought together stakeholders across the supply chain – NGOs, farmers, trade and retailers organisations. They developed recommendations to address the current challenges farmers are facing. The European organic movement actively participated in this dialogue, represented by Jan Plagge, President of IFOAM Organics Europe.
The dialogue succeeded in identifying a common way forward for EU agriculture considering it should be within the planetary boundaries and reconcile environmental sustainability with a fair income for farmers. There is broad agreement that transitioning to sustainable farming systems is necessary and should pay off for farmers. The Strategic Dialogue also recommends a significant reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) so it adequately rewards organic farmers and offers real financial added value for the environmental services they are providing.
The European organic movement looks forward to seeing how the EU institutions will realise the recommendations of the Strategic Dialogue, namely in the EU’s ‘Vision for Agriculture and Food’ which will be unveiled in the first 100 days of the Commission and in Commission President Von der Leyen’s continued support of stakeholders’ engagement. We also look forward to being involved in the process of implementing these recommendations within the advisory board that will be established by the European Commission.
Can the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) contribute to the EU’s vision?
The Commission’s vision is in line with organic movement’s vision for the future of the CAP. As European organic movement, we demand a CAP which rewards farmers for their contribution to public goods. Concretely, the CAP post-2027 should:
- Support all farmers who want to transform their farms sustainably using a whole-farm approach;
- Adequately reward farmers engaged in sustainability systems, such as organic farmers, for the benefits they already deliver to the environment and society; and
- Ensure the sector’s competitiveness.
An ambitious CAP reform is very necessary. Agriculture is a cornerstone of the European way of life, and the current challenges it faces should not be used as fuel to further increase political polarisation. Instead, policymakers should address these challenges collectively, with adequate input from farmers and citizens. Read the organic movement’s vision for a CAP post-2027 that is fit for the future.
IFOAM Organics Europe’s manifesto lists the European organic movement’s priorities for the next political mandate. One of these is reimagining the CAP so it promotes biodiversity and supports extensive practices, while improving farmers’ conditions and reducing their administrative burdens
CAP developments at EU level
Now is the time to weigh in on the future CAP. The Commission will publish the first proposal of the CAP post-2027 sometime mid-2025, just after the publication of the multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2027-2033.
The Hungarian Presidency announced that working on the agricultural policy is one of seven overarching priorities of their Presidency and the Council will intensively discuss it the next months, hoping to come to conclusions on the next CAP by December.
Among the recent developments: The Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture did not publish its CAP Declaration during the conference held on 5-6 September, just before the Hungarian Presidency’s informal meeting of agriculture Ministers. On 10 September the Ministers discussed a farmer-focused CAP post-2027 towards a “competitive, crisis-proof, sustainable, farmer-friendly and knowledge-based future EU agriculture”. The European organic movement looks forward to continuing collaborating with policymakers to support the transition to sustainable agri-food systems. We see organic farming continue to lead safeguarding the climate, protecting biodiversity and our environment – at the same time increasing food security and the attractiveness of Europe’s rural areas.