Yesterday, Geopa, the European Employers’ Group of Professional Agricultural Organisations, represented by President Claudia Merlino, participated in the Tripartite Social Summit at the Council of the European Union, advocating for a robust agricultural sector. This is the first time that agriculture is specifically represented at the European Tripartite Social Summit since its creation in 2002.
Summit participants, including Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council António Costa received Geopa’s “Growing Europe’s Strengths” paper, urging EU leaders to prioritise agriculture amidst growing challenges.
For Claudia Merlino “Europe’s focus on competitiveness and quality jobs will fall short without a robust CAP budget, continuous simplification and sustained investment in digitalisation, skills and rural employment.”
In its paper, GEOPA calls on the European Union to preserve the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as a cornerstone of European integration, ensuring essential support for farmers and rural communities to maintain food security and rural employment amidst the challenges of disappearing farms and an aging farming population.
It advocates for simplifying employment and agricultural policies to reduce bureaucracy and double sanctions, making the sector more attractive to young people, and investing in the digital and skills transition with infrastructure and education-to-employment pathways to foster innovation and green growth.
Additionally, it emphasises the need to support social dialogue for fair policy development, invest in rural development to enhance quality of life, and uphold European standards in trade agreements to protect farmers from low-quality imports and unfair competition.
Fonte: Copa Cogeca
