European Commission: agriculture, 2.5 billion euros  of financial support in 10 years. But the farmers’ protest is spiralling out

The 63 measures taken by the European Commission over the last 10 years in support of farmers and producers “hit by a loss of production, price reductions, a rise in the cost of production or an interruption in the supply chain” are worth 2.5 billion euros. This has been stated today in a notice by the news service that published the “European Commission’s report to the European Parliament and to the European Council on using crisis measures according to articles 219 to 222 of the CMO Regulation”, just when in several European countries farmers are in the streets, protesting against the European agricultural policies. “These measures prove the EU’s unfailing solidarity with its farmers” and “respond to the fact that in the last decade the EU’s agricultural industry had to face a multitude of crises”, the notice says: Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, animal diseases, market disruptions, extreme weather events; these are the names of the crises. The adoption of exceptional support measures is actually provided for by the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets regulation (CMO), since “agricultural production is intrinsically risky, as it depends on natural resources and climate conditions, and is affected by market developments”. It is actually the CMO measures, implemented after the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), that effectively offered – according to the European Commission – flexibility and support to face such crises.
Sarah Numico