European ministers agree to reduce farmers' anger

According to the report of the international group of Tasnim news agency, citing the German newspaper “Tugschau”, for the third time since the beginning of this year, hundreds of tractors belonging to protesting farmers blocked the European neighborhood of Brussels. The protesting farmers, who were mainly from Belgium, piled up a lot of hay and set tires on fire. Now, during these protests, EU countries have decided to reduce environmental regulations.

At a meeting in Brussels, EU agriculture ministers decided to make it easier for farmers with fewer obligations and more freedom of action. During this meeting, farmers protested in Brussels.

“This is not a concession to farmers,” said Marc Fesno, the French Minister of Agriculture and Food. “It's an echo, a response to what they've said about the fundamental problems in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and it's true, and that's why I think it's a sensible move.”

In response to farmers' protests, the European Union eases rules for the cultivation of fish crops. In this way, EU member states will have more freedom to decide which soils should be protected in which season. Farmers will still be exempted from the obligation to set aside part of their agricultural land for the purpose of species protection.

Based on this, farms with an area of ​​less than 10 hectares are exempted from control and punishment of their owners. This affects two-thirds of those receiving direct payments under the CAP. Officials hope this will significantly reduce administrative costs without affecting environmental goals.

“David Clarinvall”, the responsible minister of Belgium, who currently holds the presidency of the European Union, also said: “We have listened to the opinions of our farmers and we have acted quickly to resolve their concerns at a time when they are facing many challenges.”

He emphasized: For example, winter cover measures should be made more flexible or more flexibility in crop rotation should be guaranteed. According to him, the second package considers the creation of a price monitoring center so that it can quickly react to the decrease in prices.

“So it's a series of actions that all affect prices in the market to specifically increase farmers' incomes,” says Clarinvale.

Germany's Federal Minister of Agriculture Jem Özdemir also supported these measures, however, he stressed that the European Union should not give up on environmental protection.

His Austrian colleague, Norbert Tutsnig, also welcomed these facilities and said: They bring more flexibility to farmers. This means relief in terms of controls, especially for smaller companies. He added: In my opinion, it is now necessary to implement these proposals quickly to show their effects quickly.

In several European countries, farmers and their associations have long been protesting against lower prices, new environmental regulations from Brussels and imports of agricultural products from Ukraine. The EU Commission has proposed to impose import tariffs on some Ukrainian agricultural products above a certain amount, such as eggs, poultry and sugar.

French Minister of Agriculture Fesno also announced: We should support Ukraine militarily and economically, but there should not be an imbalance in the markets.

He emphasized: If we lose the support of public opinion and European agriculture, it will not be in the interest of Ukraine and Europe. We favor a balanced position.”

Negotiations in this field are still ongoing. This facility for farmers is supposed to be decided quickly and approved by the European Union Parliament at the end of April.

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