The first Ukrainian grain ship departed Odessa and headed for Beirut today, after controls in Istanbul, is being celebrated, as if the ongoing war disaster or food security disaster can be understood to have been so resolved.
The European Commission is running out of ideas on how to deal with the crisis that is dragging the Old Continent but also the countries south of the Mediterranean between Africa and Asia Minor into the abyss. (1)
Ukrainian grain and food security
Urmas Paet–former foreign minister in Estonia, now an MEP in the Renew (Liberal Democrats) political group–has urged the European Commission to consider the ‘possibility of banning the export of plant protection products (pesticides, herbicides and fungicides) and seeds to Russia.’ (2)
The food securitycrisis, according to him, would be caused by the conflict in Ukraine. Instead of, as iPES Food has amply demonstrated, by:
– speculation by the corporations that manage 60-70% of the global grain market (ABCD, Archer-Daniels Midland, Bunge, Cargill, Dreyfus),
– droughts and famines, the effects of which have been exacerbated by agricultural practices inappropriate to the needs of the people, often imposed in the form of international ‘aid’. (3)
European Commission, no to sanctions on agricultural inputs
The European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy, Hungary’s Olivér Várhely, in any case explained to the belligerent MEP that:
– ‘export bans on plant protection products and seeds are not currently part of the sanctions packages against Russia,’ as
– ‘sanctions are adopted by the Council of the EU with the aim of promoting the core values and interests of the EU while minimizing negative consequences for those who are not responsible for the policies that led to the adoption of the sanctions.’ (4)
Sanctions, the collateral damage
The collateral damage of sanctions, on closer inspection, has affected hundreds of millions of innocent people. Not in Russia but in Europe, where citizens of EU member states are the first victims of sanctions imposed and agreed upon in Brussels by their own governments.
The gas crisis-announced as early as the beginning of the conflict (5)-has crippled the European economy starting with Germany, where the cost of the primary energy source has tripled in one year (+184%, Bild) and the big freeze is awaited with little confidence:
– production in July 2022 hit the lowest level in 2 abundant years (see. S&P Manufacturing PMI table),
– retail(retail) consumption continues to depress (-3.7 percent June 2022 over 2021, in the eurozone. Eurostat).
Food security, disaster in the making
The Estonian MEP-after expressing the delusional idea of aggravating the food security crisis through new (self) sanctions-has posed a couple of questions that it seems useful to share:
– ‘what measures the Commission has taken to prepare for humanitarian crises in Europe’s neighboring regions of North Africa and the Middle East,
– how the Commission supports food production facilities and helps strengthen capacity in other parts of the world to increase the volume of global food production’. (3)
EU, zero resources for Africa and the Middle East
Olivér Várhely, the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, thus had to confess that the EU has no resources for countries in Africa and the Middle East. Beyond a few pennies compared with the €2.5 billion already allocated (6) to ship arms to Ukraine:
– 225 million is dedicated to Food and Resilience Facility (FRF) in the so-called Southern Neighborhood countries. Algeria (€5 m), Egypt (€100 m), Jordan (€25 m) Lebanon (€25 m), Syria (€10 m), Tunisia (€20 m) and Palestine (€25 m),
– ‘In addition, in 2022, the EU significantly increased humanitarian food assistance, especially in response to the global food crisis. At least 460 million is estimated to be allocated for food assistance (excluding food assistance to Ukraine)‘ (7,4).
Interim conclusions
‘It is hard to imagine a stupider or more dangerous way of making decisions than putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for their mistakes‘ (Thomas Sowell).
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Dario Dongo. Yemen, 26.5 million people in hunger. Unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Égalité. 30.7.22,
(2) Question 10.5.22 by Urmas Paet MEP to the European Commission (P-001727/2022). https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/P-9-2022-001727_EN.html
(3) Marta Strinati. Rising prices and food crisis in wartime. Background in iPES FOOD report. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10.5.22,
(4) Answer 20.7.22 by Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Olivér Várhely to parliamentary question P-001727/2022. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/P-9-2022-001727-ASW_EN.html
(5) Dario Dongo.
Gas and electricity, a crisis foretold.
. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 20.3.22,
(6) Robin Emmott. EU Agrees Another 500 Million Euros for Ukrainian Arms. Reuters. 18.7.22,
(7) European Commission. The Commission acts in support of food security and resilience in the Southern Neighborhood. 6.4.22.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
