Energy crisis – Breakthrough agreement reached in Council yesterday, strategic also to ensure food supplies

Yesterday in Brussels, the Energy Ministers of the EU Member States reached a political agreement on a proposal for a Council Regulation to address the high energy prices crisis felt across the Union. The deal represents an important breakthrough, eagerly awaited for by the European farming community.

The rising costs of energy and its impact on the prices of electricity, fuel, fertilisers and other inputs to the agricultural sector put farmers and their cooperatives under great stress. Soaring gas and electricity prices are particularly impacting certain sectors such as fruit and vegetables, with many producers on the brink of collapse, facing strong liquidity concerns and seriously reconsidering the continuation of their activity.

In a context where food affordability has become an issue due to the increase in inflation, we hope that the measures agreed yesterday and their implementation by the Member States will bring relief to European citizens, and also to the farming community which remains committed to continuing to provide consumers with safe, quality food produced in a sustainable manner. For European farmers and agri-cooperatives to continue operating, it is key to ensure the conditions for producing at affordable prices by contributing to curb inflation, facilitating the sector’s access to energy and reducing the volatility of energy prices. In addition, it is important that the EU puts further efforts into the diversification of energy supply, with the key role of bioenergy/crop-based biofuels. Moreover, the excess profits originating from fossil fuels, should also be used in supporting the farming sector.

Copa President Christiane Lambert commented on the agreement and underlined that, “Member States should consider our European agri-food production as essential concerning the gas supply and in the context of the measures agreed yesterday on electricity demand reduction. Our sector, which delivers daily nutrition to our citizens, should be excluded from the requirement to reduce energy consumption during peak hours as such limitation could result in serious market and supply chain disruption, while leaving many of our farmers in severe conditions.”

Adding to that Cogeca President Ramon Armengol stressed the importance of maintaining the liquidity in the sector, “At the moment many of our agri-cooperatives are faced with liquidity issues, due to high energy prices and input costs. It is key to aid them to continue operating at previous levels of productivity. What is needed is a revised Temporary State Aid Crisis Framework to make it more of a fit-for-purpose for the agri-food supply chain and to ensure an easier access to credit.”

Copa and Cogeca continue to closely follow the developments concerning this agreement and look forward to having additional clarity on the Member States’ implementation of these measures.

Artigo publicado originalmente em Copa Cogeca.