by N. Peter Kramer
The green sustainability plans of the European Commission are increasingly criticised in the European Parliament, who fear that the Green Deal will cause food shortages in the EU. MEP Annie Schreyer-Pierik (EPP) accuses Commission 1st Vice-President Frans Timmermans, responsible for the Green Deal, of breaking the climate agreement. Article 2, she said, states that climate policy may never threaten food production. But at the same time, the Commission has no idea what the in the Green Deal proposed reduction of fertilisers, pesticides, agricultural land and fishing grounds will mean for food production and food security. ‘Together with colleagues I have been demanding for months that Timmermans and Commissioner for Agriculture Wojciechowski carry out a scientific impact assessment and substantiate their objectives.’, Schreyer-Pierik continued, ‘MEPs are, meanwhile, denied access to critical internal analyses of top Brussels officials’.
A report by an American institute showed that the Green Deal will result in 12% less agricultural production in the EU in 2030. According to the MEP, the bill for this will mainly be paid by the poorest, followed by the rapidly growing middle class. European farmers are the most sustainable in the world. A shift of EU food production abroad will lead to more global climate emissions and damage nature.
A clear message which, for the moment, is not getting through to the European Commission and its bureaucracy.
