Brussels, 16 August 2022
See question(s) : E-001837/2022
EN
E-001837/2022
Answer given by Mr Wojciechowski
on behalf of the European Commission
(16.8.2022)
Food security in the EU is not at stake. The EU is largely self-sufficient for key agricultural products, including for cereals and animal products. Food affordability for low income persons is however a concern in the current inflationary context.
E-001837/2022
Answer given by Mr Wojciechowski
on behalf of the European Commission
(16.8.2022)
Food security in the EU is not at stake. The EU is largely self-sufficient for key agricultural products, including for cereals and animal products. Food affordability for low income persons is however a concern in the current inflationary context.
In its Communication on Food Security and Food System Resilience1, the Commission announced a set of support measures to the agricultural sector, including the adoption of a EUR 500 million support package mobilising the crisis reserve to support affected farmers, the temporary derogation from certain requirements related to additional greening payments to bring additional agricultural land into production, and increased level of advances for direct payments and rural development financing. That Communication sets out also other short term measures aiming at alleviating the impact of food inflation for the most deprived: social policy measures, resources of the Fund for European Aid to the most Deprived (FEAD) and reduced Value Added Tax rates. Following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the Commission also adopted a new self-standing Temporary Crisis Framework for State Aid measures to support the economy2.
While short term emergency support measures are important, they do not replace the importance of refocusing the food sector in the long run towards sustainability and resilience. Without the necessary transition set out in the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies and the Fit for 55 package, there will be irreversible impacts on the food system, including at the global level, and food security will be put severely at risk.
1 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022DC0133.
2 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022XC0324(10).
2 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022XC0324(10).
Source : © European Union, 2022 – EP