The subject matter of the meeting

The subject matter of the meeting held on 12-13 June in Stockholm was the contribution of EU agriculture and forestry to food, feed, fibre and energy security, in the context of long-term efforts for a resource-efficient bioeconomy in a sustainable world with net-zero emissions.

The Ministers addressed the challenges and opportunities for the agriculture and forestry sectors at European level – in respect of the full use of their potential to contribute to the green transition.

The Ministers also talked about the tools and measures which would be the most appropriate in this scope at national level.

Green transition – challenges and opportunities

During the discussion, the Ministers pointed out that agriculture and forestry played a significant role in the green transition. They discerned the need to strengthen efforts in this area. They stressed the role of bioeconomy and circular economy the implementation of which could contribute to improving the resilience to crises and, at the same time, the state of the natural environment. Many Ministers pointed out the priority role of food security and the need for a sustainable approach and a balance between the three dimensions of sustainable development. A generally voiced proposal concerned the need to ensure coherence among different policies and initiatives.

Minister Robert Telus stressed that the inclusion of agriculture in the green transition brought many opportunities, but also serious challenges and that the greatest of the latter was to persuade farmers to implement the targets of this policy. Minister Robert Telus also pointed out that the transition of food systems must not limit agricultural production in the EU and food security, and that the competitiveness of the European agriculture must not be lowered.

The head of the Ministry of Agriculture said that it was necessary to provide appropriate financial resources in order to support the green transition. He also stressed that actions were needed to support investments and stabilise incomes in the agriculture sector.

“The solutions and measures in this scope should be secured at EU level,” the Polish Minister of Agriculture stressed.

The head of the Polish delegation stated that there was a need for a balance between the needs of environmental protection and the necessity of ensuring the protection of crops against new threats.

“The introduction of restrictions on the use of plant protection products should be preceded by the provision of effective and efficient alternative methods for agriculture and forestry. It is justified to limit the use of plant protection products, but the way in which the reduction targets are defined, irrespective of today’s consumption, is unfair,” Minister Robert Telus said.

Transition of agriculture – tools and measures

Minister Robert Telus stressed that the importance of regulatory solutions for stimulating the transition of agriculture should be appreciated.

“It is important to ensure that such solutions are evidence-based. They should also be coupled with instruments mitigating their adverse impacts and supporting their implementation,” the Polish Minister of Agriculture added.

The head of the Polish delegation informed that the requirements resulting from the green transition needed to apply to products imported from third countries. Otherwise the competiveness of European products would fall. In the Minister’s opinion, there is a need to support the development of bioeconomy with the resources of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as well as under other policies, e.g. those oriented on research and innovation. In light of the present crisis situation, which is the effect of the war in Ukraine, the agricultural reserve needs to be increased.

The head of the Ministry of Agriculture recognised that there was a need to revise the EU policy on renewable energy sources. He added that the rules for local biomass use needed to be simplified.

“Priority should be given to those renewable resources that generate energy in a stable manner and independently of the weather conditions. The sustainability criteria should also be repealed for biomass produced on farmland which is subject to requirements under the CAP regulations,” Minister Robert Telus informed.

The Minister pointed out that the biodiversity targets and the climate objectives of the EU were based on the limitation of timber production. In the Minister’s opinion, this can have an adverse effect on the possibility of implementing socio-economic objectives, especially in the scope of bioeconomy. The Minister stressed that Poland was opposed to solutions which would deprive states of their exclusive competence in the scope of forestry and interfere with the national forest management. He added that from the viewpoint of forestry, it was of key importance to create more flexible regulations taking into account the diversity of forests in Europe.

Talks on the sidelines of the meeting

On the sidelines of the meeting, Minister Robert Telus held political consultations with many Ministers responsible for agriculture from other EU Member States. The subject matter of these talks primarily included the situation on the agricultural markets and the need for the EC to support farmers.