Farmers cannot be left to carry cost of transition towards better environment alone – Anton Refalo
Farmers cannot be left alone to carry the burden of cost of transitioning towards better environmental and climate protection, Agriculture Minister Anton Refalo said.
The minister said this during a meeting of the European Ministers Council in Brussels, against a backdrop of protests from farmers in several member states against European Union directives.
"The European Union cannot continue to shift the burden onto those whose livelihoods depend on the affected sectors. We need to be sensitive, especially after everything that has happened worldwide in the last four years, and understand that the agricultural sector, like any other sector, has its own limitations in order to achieve a balance between food security and environmental and climatic goals," said Refalo.
He continued by stating that the ongoing protests are a sign that there is a gap between the political ambitions of European institutions and the realities of everyday life for farmers, as well as the expected contributions that agriculture makes to Europe's decarbonisation and competitiveness agenda.
Refalo assured that the Maltese government has always been and will always be supportive of its farmers, and called on the European Union and its member states to do the same. He emphasised that this assistance was also recognised by the European Commissioner for Agriculture during a visit to Malta and also confirmed the concerns of Maltese farmers.
The minister listed several solutions, including finding a way to implement the Strategic Plan with more flexibility, improving access to European funds and reducing excessive administrative burdens associated with reporting on agricultural obligations.
He stressed the need to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach in the case of goals and objectives so that member states have the space to adopt the most suitable strategies and methods. He also listed the need for new laws to assess the economic and social impact on producers and our food supply security. He pointed out that this would ensure that farmers are protected from additional and potentially unfair impacts.
"Farmers have a strategic role in food security in the European Union and in the protection of the rural environment. Therefore, we must listen to and consider their concerns and messages to make the necessary changes as soon as possible and to have a European policy that calls for and provides them with the full support they deserve. In this way, we will also motivate them to carry out the much-needed reforms and to pass them on to future generations," concluded Refalo.