The European Union will likely be compelled to supply extra meals however with fewer assets because the inhabitants grows, stated Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Plana, citing this as the explanation for the idea of strategic autonomy being placed on the desk.
The struggle in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic “have compelled us to replicate on meals geopolitics and have put the idea of strategic autonomy within the worth chain on the desk,” Planas (PSOE/S&D) advised EURACTIV’s associate EFEagro in an unique interview.
Among the many challenges for this yr, Planas cited the implementation of the brand new CAP, the Spanish presidency of the EU Council within the second half of the yr, and the geopolitical context, marked by the Ukraine struggle.
Spain has scheduled 5 formal EU Councils of Agriculture and Fisheries within the second half of the yr and one other two casual Councils, one to be held in July in Vigo and one other scheduled for September in Cordoba, EFE reported.
Those that “suppose that we have now to maneuver (within the EU) in the direction of a lower in meals manufacturing, I don’t agree with that in any respect,” he stated.
“Along with the rise in inhabitants (estimated at greater than 9 billion by 2050), struggle and COVID open up one other new reflection on the geopolitics of meals manufacturing: communications and international commerce might be disrupted, therefore the significance of one other idea, that of strategic autonomy,” stated the minister.
The influence (of the struggle) on the power and fertiliser markets is one instance, as is the case with cereals, an space during which the European Union has created a register of “shares” (additionally for oilseeds and rice) as a result of “we didn’t know what we had and it’s important in a context during which we have now to preserve this autonomy,” he identified.
To guard producers from the rise of their inputs like power, uncooked supplies or fertilisers, and shoppers from the rise in meals costs, the Spanish Authorities has permitted a number of assuaging measures, amongst them reductions in diesel costs and VAT has been abolished on primary foodstuffs and decreased on oil and pasta, he stated.
In 2023 “two nice cross winds will converge which have already been skilled in 2022: that residents have high quality meals at affordable costs and that its manufacturing strikes in the direction of a sustainable mannequin over time, utilizing fewer assets and avoiding their loss and waste,” stated the minister.
The latter is “important”, he insisted, including that the Spanish draft regulation on waste will likely be voted on in parliament this yr and “will likely be used as (supply) of inspiration by the European Fee as a result of we can not permit 30% of meals to go to waste. It’s a political, financial, social, and, it should be stated, an moral challenge.”
Learn the total interview (in Spanish)
(Laura Cristóbal | Efeagro)
