The post-2020 CAP-that is, the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy for years to come-puts biodiversity, the environment, and public health at serious risk.
The promises of the European Commission, the
Green Deal
and green transition are betrayed by under-the-table deals between agrochemicals and politics.
The last chance lies with individual MEPs, who are called to vote on 10/20/20. We appeal to the 76 elected by the citizens of Italy(here are their names and emails) to reflect on the good of our children and vote according to conscience. More protected areas, less poisons. We agree with the associations’ call for environmental protection and organic crops. Here’s why.
An agreement ‘against nature’ in our name?
An ‘against nature’ agreement would have already intervened under the table between the lobbies of agrochemicals, industrial agriculture and the big political groups in the Strasbourg Assembly:
– the EPP, European People’s Party,
– the S&D, Socialists and Democrats, whose best-known Italian representatives are European Parliament President David Sassoli and former Italian Minister of Agriculture Paolo De Castro, who has already spoken out in favor of new GMOs,
– Renew Europe, which is joined by Matteo Renzi’s ‘Italia Viva.
‘The European Parliament risks halting the European Green Deal process and its objectives contained in the recent Strategies approved a few months ago, those on Biodiversity 2030 and Farm to fork,’ denounces the ‘Let’s Change Agriculture’ Coalition. Which brings together several environmental and organic and biodynamic farming associations, such as Doctors for the Environment Association, Legambiente, FAI, WWF, LIPU, Federbio, AIAB, Biodynamic Farming Association, and Pronatura.
Post-2020 CAP, biodiversity and climate emergency
Compromise among big political groups, fomented by Big Ag lobbyists, threatens to undermine already-struggling biodiversity and exacerbate the climate emergency. As previously reported by the European Court of Auditors, among others, in its Special Report No. 13/20. In particular:
It is unacceptable‘not to allow real space for nature on farms instead of setting a target of at least 10 percent of areas for biodiversity protection through the creation of ponds, hedgerows and small wetlands, as stipulated in the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030.’
Under the agreement adopted by the parties, peatlands, a massive source of carbon responsible for 25 percent of all agricultural GHG emissions in the EU and 5 percent of all GHG emissions in Europe, would continue to be drained. They would also like to remove the ban on plowing and converting permanent grasslands in Natura 2000 sites, which are protected areas under EU directives’.
Inequalities
‘These proposals, along with other very serious ones, could already mean the end of the EU’s ambitious Green Deal, which desperately needs radical CAP reform to succeed.
Even from the standpoint of equity for farms devoted to organic andagroecological farming, this agreement could be devastating. Draining resources toward practices that only large companies could afford, in a kind of European-funded greenwashing’ (Coalition ‘Let’s Change Agriculture’, position paper on CAP reform).
IFOAM raises its voice
IFOAM Organics Europe -the European delegation of a body that has represented the organic supply chain on five continents since 1972-raises its voice. With a reminder that its president Jan Plagge addresses each of the 705 representatives of 446 million citizens in 27 countries(Eurostat, 2020).
‘The organic movement fully supports the goals of the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies to reduce the use of pesticides, fertilizers and antibiotics in agriculture and achieve 25 percent of EU farmland in organic farming by 2030. The CAP is a crucial public policy for achieving these goals.
Hundreds of thousands of organic farmers across Europe are already paving the way to make agriculture more equitable and sustainable, to preserve our soil, water and biodiversity, and to regenerate rural areas. They are counting on you to ensure that the new CAP properly recognizes and supports their efforts to green European agriculture and revitalize communities’.
CAP post-2020, time for change
CAP subsidies today cost European taxpayers about 60 billion euros, or 32 percent of the entire EU budget.
Small green farmers go bankrupt, squeezed between price liberalization and abusive trade practices, still waiting for the effective implementation (and consistent enforcement) of EU Directive 2019/633. Owners of large plots of land devoted to intensive farming, conversely, collect the largest share of CAP subsidies. And they are simultaneously legitimized to exacerbate the loss of biodiversity, pollution of soils, water and air, and overconsumption of resources.
This model of development is outdated. This is also evidenced by the attention of European citizens to the environmental sustainability of consumption (organic, first and foremost). And dictating the turning point is now the Green Deal itself. A program criticized for some shortcomings, but unanimously recognized as the European Commission’s first bold step toward change. For example, halving the use of pesticides and antibiotics and reducing fertilizers by 20 percent by 2030 (10 years from now).
Who panders to Big Ag
Obstruct The ecological transition goals introduced in the strategies Farm to Fork and Biodiversity is ‘why the big agriculture and industry lobbies want to push through the current CAP text-drafted by the previous Juncker Commission [in 2018, ed.]-that is not in line with the Green Deal‘, comments Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) into a profitable in-depth study On the Common Agricultural Policy.
Supporters of the status quo are varied. The pressure group Copa-Cogeca, the pesticide monopolists (
Big 4
) and the industrial agriculture giants(Big Ag). But also the agriculture ministers of the member states, the officials of DG Agriculture, and unfortunately also the majority of the members of the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament, which has been cooperating with such pressure groups for a long time.
The paradoxes of Copa-Cogeca
The Copa-Cogeca pair deserves a closer look. COPA has represented farmers since 1958. Its vice president is Roberto Moncalvo, former president of Coldiretti, the first agricultural confederation in the EU. COGECA has been looking after the interests of agricultural cooperatives since 1959 (vice-president Leonardo Pofferi, head of European policies for Alleanza delle Cooperative Italiane).
The paradoxes of Copa-Cogeca are at least two:
- agricultural confederations aspire to guarantee income for farmers (in addition to the multimillion-dollar salaries of their presidents and senior executives). While cooperatives also pursue the (potentially) conflicting interests of buyers of agricultural products,
- the ‘confederation of confederations’ openly supports the renewal of glyphosate authorization all along, while its first member Coldiretti (in words, in Italy) keeps its distance.
Smoke black
‘In Brussels, Copa-Cogeca-a hybrid lobbying group composed of trade unions and companies-often sides with pesticide giants such as BASF, Bayer-Monsanto and Syngenta and multinational food corporations such as Mondelez, Nestlé and Unilever’ (Corporate Europe Observatory, CEO).
Lobbyists’ activities are reported to have cost Copa-Cogeca about 2.5 million euros in 2018 alone (CEO source). They have privileged relations with European institutions and leaders who have historically treated them‘not as mere recipients of government money, but as partners in decision-making‘(New York Times, 11.12.19).
Dario Dongo and Marta Strinati
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
