Today, the Committee on Agriculture voted with 36 votes in favour, 8 against, and 2 abstentions on its opinion on the Commission’s revision proposal on the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED). The Committee simply rejected the Commission’s ill-suited legislative instrument towards livestock farming. Copa and Cogeca have been demonstrating for months the problems and difficulties[1] that the application of the Commission’s proposal would cause on the ground, which is why we welcome the adoption of the report by MEP Benoit Lutgen (EPP, BE).
From a symbolic standpoint, agriculture MEPs showed their support to EU farmers by rejecting the denomination of “industrial installations” for family farming, such as those mining coal or producing chemicals.
From a more technical point of view, extending the scope of application of the IED will place unbearable requirements on small and medium-sized farms, risking liquidation and/or excessive concentration on existing farms, and shift consumption of products originating in non-EU countries. The agriculture committee called for cattle farms to be excluded from the rules, and for the revised rules to only apply to farms with more than 40,000 places for poultry, 2,000 places for production pigs or 750 places for sows, as well as to farms of 750 livestock units. The agriculture committee also introduced several provisions simplifying registration procedures and reducing obligations for farm operators, thus deleting the aggregation rule.
Copa and Cogeca hope that the European Parliament takes due consideration of the clear message sent by agriculture MEPs in their upcoming vote in the Committee on Environment and in Plenary.
[1] https://copa-cogeca.eu/Flexpage/DownloadFile/?id=13391142
Artigo publicado originalmente em Copa Cogeca.
