Roth Neveďalová: The European Parliament will stand on the side of farmers in the debates on the MFF

Brussels – The European Parliament (EP) will certainly fight for the interests of farmers in the upcoming negotiations on the future long-term EU budget. This was stated in an interview with TASR by MEP Katarína Roth Neveďalová (non-attached/Smer-SD), who is the only full member of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) among Slovak MEPs.

The MEP came on Wednesday (July 16) afternoon to support the demonstration of European farmers who protested in front of the European Commission building against the reduction of income for the Common Agricultural Policy within the future long-term EU budget. She reminded that the AGRI committee has long been calling on the European Commission and the EU as a whole not to reduce funding for agriculture, as food security is very important, as well as ensuring that food is of sufficient quality.

Farmers must not be the ones who bear the consequences of the European Green Deal

“We also have a position from our committee that states that farmers must not be the ones who bear the consequences of the European Green Deal and all the measures being adopted, and that they need much more support,” she said.

In this context, she recalled the debate from the July plenary session of the EP, where the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, spoke about the future of this sector. She stated that the commissioner did not reassure MEPs very much about what financial contributions for farmers could be expected, while the EP expected that those expenditures would remain at the same level as they have been so far, or would be lower, but with the hope that despite new priorities such as defense or competitiveness, it would be possible to maintain the same support for the agri-sector as before.

The EC proposal allocates 300 billion euros for the Common Agricultural Policy in the future Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), but as Roth Neveďalová pointed out, since the total amount of the seven-year budget is higher than it has been so far, farmers will receive less money.

“For us as Eastern Europe, it is important to maintain direct payments and gradually increase them,” she described the situation, adding that Slovak farmers are now somewhere around 85% of the average payments for EU farmers.

The MEP also mentioned the preparation of national plans in the field of agriculture, where, according to her, there is a very interesting debate regarding agro-commodities imported from Ukraine. Because although the European Commission has agreed to limit their import and set quotas, those are much higher than they were before the war in Ukraine, especially in the case of honey.

“This is one big package that we will have to resolve in two and a half years,” she stated, referring to the MFF proposal, which the European Parliament will now negotiate with member states, probably until the end of 2027. She warned that the AGRI committee is clearly on the side of farmers and fights for their interests, so they have less bureaucracy, more flexibility, and access to the necessary financial support, thus helping to address the problems that Europe has, for example, with ensuring sufficient fruit and vegetable or meat supply. (July 17)