DEuropean farmers will be allowed to use their entire arable land again this year. The European Commission has suspended the obligation to reserve 4 percent of the area for fallow land, as it did last year. Member States have 15 days to request an exemption from set-aside. It applies retroactively to January 1st. The prerequisite for the use of the entire agricultural area is that farmers grow nitrogen-fixing plants such as lentils or plant catch crops on at least 4 percent of their arable land that can be used as animal feed or green manure. That is another 3 percentage points less than the original Commission proposal from the end of January.
With the decision, the commission is reacting to the ongoing farmers' protests in countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Belgium. It ignored the fact that its proposal was not supported by a qualified majority of member states – 15 states representing 65 percent of the EU population – last Friday. Germany abstained, as did Spain, Portugal and Estonia. Italy, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania voted against it.
The reasons were different. Italy, Spain and Poland had demanded more extensive concessions to the farmers. Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) criticized the Commission's move and called on it to renegotiate. Ultimately, however, the Commission was able to act relatively freely because the initiative is not a normal legislative procedure, but rather a legal act that has high hurdles to block.
“Now he has to show his colors”
The Commission justified the proposal to forgo set-aside based on a series of events, from extreme weather to high energy prices to the fall in grain prices. The latter is piquant because the Commission justified the exception to the set-aside in 2023, when it was first decided, with the high grain prices after the Russian attack on Ukraine. The chairman of the Agriculture Committee in the EU Parliament, Norbert Lins (CDU), called on Özdemir to act quickly: “Now he has to show his colors and implement these simplifications in Germany promptly and on time.” He called on the European Commission to do the same to waive the obligation to set aside land for 2025 to 2027.
Meanwhile, after days of negotiations, the Italian government has partially withdrawn the reintroduction of income tax for agricultural businesses. Farmers have been exempt from this since 2016; Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wanted to resume it this year, but has now proposed full exemption up to an annual income of 10,000 euros and a 50 percent reduction between 10,000 and 15,000 euros. As a result, tax revenue is expected to be 220 million euros lower this year and a further 130 million euros lower next year.
Blockade of Rome prevented
A few days ago, Meloni had already stated that large amounts of resources were available from the Corona fund: Due to the new priorities that her government had renegotiated with the Commission, the funds for agriculture and food rose to 6.53 billion euros, in addition to others 1.2 billion euros would be added from an Italian fund. However, these billions contain significant funds for wind and solar parks as well as for the food industry, which many farmers accuse of restricting contracts. Therefore, the protests did not calm down at first.
The government still managed to prevent farmers from blockading the capital, Rome. Within the three governing parties Fratelli d'Italia, Lega and Forza Italia, giving in to the farmers was controversial. Matteo Salvini, the Lega leader and deputy prime minister, had tried to join the protests. He claimed that they were primarily directed against European EU policy. This was not true with regard to the planned reintroduction of the income tax. The most important agricultural association, Coldiretti, is traditionally close to the right-of-center parties. But he struggles to maintain influence. Quite a few farmers accuse the association of only pursuing the interests of the large farms in a dalliance with the government. The protest movement is characterized by a large number of sometimes spontaneous initiatives, including right-wing extremists and anti-vaccination groups.
In terms of gross value added, Italy has the second largest agricultural sector in the EU after France. It contributes much more to national economic performance than in Germany or France. The industry is characterized by a large number of small and medium-sized family businesses. It's not just wine and olive oil that are successful products. Italy is one of the three largest European producers of tomatoes.
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