Tough talks on the EU’s next long-term budget, Ukraine’s push for EU accession and skyrocketing fertiliser costs are putting European farmers under the political spotlight once more. Can the EU continue to appease them as it shifts its focus to defence and global trade? MEPs debate on The Ring.
For two years, farmers’ anger has been spilling over into protests across Europe, amid frustration over high operational costs, stringent green rules, and new European Union trade deals that farmers say put their livelihoods at risk.
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Now, the challenges they face seem to be multiplying.
In this episode of The Ring, Euronews' weekly debate show, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) Ciaran Mulloly of the Renew Europe group and Pekka Toveri of the European People's Party (EPP) go head-to-head on how the EU can continue to protect farmers in a more complex geopolitical climate.
For Ciaran Mulloly, the current level of subsidies offered to farmers cannot be compromised in the next long-term EU budget, currently under negotiation among EU capitals. A staggering 30% of the EU budget is currently channelled towards farming communities.
Pekki Toveri, however, sees the major security threat facing his native Finland and recognises the need for the EU to reconsider its funding priorities.
**"**We understand the importance of food security and agriculture. But on the other hand, we also know the threat of Russia, which is not only the eastern border," MEP Toveri says.
"And therefore we need to be stronger in security and defence. And that means everybody has to pitch in, including agriculture."
The contenders also debate how the push to swiftly integrate Ukraine into the EU could disrupt the level of subsidies currently offered to European farmers.
Ukraine has around 40 million hectares of agricultural land, covering an area larger than the size of Italy. If it were to join the EU, the country would account for 20% of European cereal production.
For Mulloly, the EU cannot under any circumstances reduce the amount of subsidies granted to current European farmers to accommodate Ukraine.
"I'm opposed, full stop, to reduction in our subsidies or in our single farm payments," he says.
"That doesn't mean I don't understand the invitation to Ukraine to come aboard. That doesn't mean I don't understand the contribution that Ukraine's farmers can make to Europe. But you have to remember that in full production, the output from Ukraine would amount to both France and Italy put together."
While Toveri agrees, he also says that the EU needs to be flexible in proposing a solution: "Ukraine is a unique country, and we have to find a unique solution for it."
The MEPs also weigh in on the challenges posed by climate change to farming communities, with both agreeing that farmers contribute significantly to the protection of nature.
Referring to Finnish farmers, MEP Toveri says: "They've lived there for centuries, they know the nature, the Finns love nature! They don't want to destroy anything just for farming."
Mulloly echoes this. "Farmers have historically been 'the custodians of the environment. For generations, my family and others have defended the environment. We played our part in the environmental schemes."
Both MEPs also raise the alarm on the high average age of farmers across the EU, saying that the bloc needs to do more to incentivise young people to enter the sector. Mulloly called for a larger EU farming budget that would "let farmers retire and bring in young farmers."
This episode of The Ring is hosted by Mared Gwyn, produced by Luis Albertos Altarejos, Amaia Echevarria and Lauren Walker, and edited by Vassilis Glynos.
You can contact us at: thering@euronews.com.