Motion for a resolution - B9-0163/2022Motion for a resolution
B9-0163/2022
European Parliament

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the need for an urgent EU action plan to ensure food security inside and outside the EU in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

16.3.2022 - (2022/2593(RSP))

to wind up the debate on the statements by the Council and the Commission
pursuant to Rule 132(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Ulrike Müller, Søren Gade, Nils Torvalds
on behalf of the Renew Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B9-0160/2022

Procedure : 2022/2593(RSP)
Document stages in plenary
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B9-0163/2022
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B9-0163/2022
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Texts adopted :

B9‑0163/2022

European Parliament resolution on the need for an urgent EU action plan to ensure food security inside and outside the EU in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

(2022/2593(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the Russian Federation launched an unprovoked and unjustified invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 in a clear breach of international law; whereas the continuous and abhorrent attacks on Ukrainian civilians are a grave breach of the Geneva Convention and constitute war crimes;

B. whereas food production and access to food should not be used as a geopolitical weapon;

C. whereas the objectives of the common fisheries policy (CFP) and the common agricultural policy (CAP) include, among others, supplying the EU market with foods of high nutritional value, reducing the EU market’s dependence on food imports, and ensuring that food reaches consumers at reasonable prices; whereas the COVID-19 pandemic and now the Russian invasion of Ukraine have made it even more apparent that the EU needs to strengthen its food security and reduce its dependence on inputs imported from single or too few suppliers from outside the EU;

D. whereas this situation and the legitimate sanctions imposed on Russia will lead to a significant cumulative disruption of global agricultural, fisheries and aquaculture markets in addition to the COVID-19 crisis and recent significant input cost increases, particularly in relation to the grains and vegetable oil markets given that Ukraine and Russia account for approximately 30 % of world trade in wheat, 32 % of barley, 17 % of corn and over 50 % of sunflower seed oil and 20 % of sunflower seeds, and in terms of access to fertilisers and the inputs required for fertiliser production;

E. whereas the EU is particularly dependent on Ukraine for the supply of maize, rapeseed, wheat, sunflower seeds and sunflower cake, while Russia is also an important source of imports for wheat, rapeseed cake, sunflower seeds and sunflower cake, the majority of which is used as feedstock for the livestock sector;

F. whereas several Member States have signalled that, at current rates, they run the risk of exhausting stocks of animal feed by Easter;

G. whereas Ukraine and Russia are even more important suppliers of staple food commodities to countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, notably Egypt, which imports more than 50 % of its total cereals for bread, and India, which imports almost two thirds of its edible oils demand from the world market; whereas any price increase in these countries, no matter how small, will have a major impact on the supply of basic food stuffs for the general population; stresses that this is not only a food security problem but also has the potential to lead to a social crisis in the EU’s southern neighbourhood;

H. whereas the Russian invasion of Ukraine will have a direct impact on ongoing food crises worldwide; whereas more than half of the wheat used by the World Food Programme comes from Ukraine alone;

I. whereas in addition to the EU’s heavy dependence on imports of fertiliser from Russia, the Union’s reliance on imports of fossil-based energies for the production of fertiliser and on potash from Belarus will lead to a significant disruption in supply at a time when fertiliser prices have increased by 142 % over the last year and energy and fertilisers account for 20 % of farmers’ production costs[1]; whereas gas accounts for 60 % to 80 % of the production costs of key nitrogen fertilisers[2]; whereas high gas prices have already led to the temporary closure of some fertiliser industry facilities; whereas there are already cases where fertiliser companies have rejected orders from farmers due to the lack of raw materials;

J. whereas there are many fertiliser products derived from organic sources of nutrients and these products are currently not utilised as replacements for chemical fertilisers; whereas increasing their use could be a solution to reduce the Union’s dependence on chemical fertilisers while meeting the objectives of the Green Deal;

K. whereas the price of fuel has increased considerably in the European Union, reaching a historic high in many Member States; whereas continuation on this trajectory will lead to an unsustainable economic situation for farmers and fishers, such as fishing vessels finding it impossible to go to sea and earn more than the cost of fishing operations;

L. whereas the EU fisheries, aquaculture and processing sectors provide high-quality seafood products, playing a fundamental role in ensuring global food security; whereas the fisheries sector has long helped to provide European consumers with high-quality products that meet high nutrition and food safety standards, and is now a global leader in terms of sustainability;

M. whereas the impact on consumer food prices needs to be considered in the context of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which already contributed to price increases before the start of the war; whereas the cost of food in the EU was 4.7 % higher in January 2022 than in the same month of the previous year[3]; whereas many Member States, and Central and Eastern European countries in particular, are facing even higher food price increases;

N. whereas Russia is Europe’s sixth-largest trade partner in terms of value of EU agri-food exports[4]; whereas the trade disruptions and imposed sanctions will require mitigation measures, including the establishment of alternative markets for EU agricultural products;

O. whereas the Russian invasion of Ukraine has an impact on the labour market, which could further impact food production;

P. whereas on 9 March 2022 the Commission held the first meeting of the newly established European food security crisis preparedness and response mechanism (EFSCM) to discuss food security, the impact of the increases in energy and input prices and the impact of the war in Ukraine; whereas this mechanism aims to increase preparedness to crises by improving coordination and exchanging best practices;

Q. whereas following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and subsequent sanctions, the Commission and Member States took several measures to counter the negative effects on EU agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture markets;

1. Expresses deep concern about the impact that this disruption in agricultural, fisheries and aquaculture processes will have on food security for the people of Ukraine and urges the Commission and the international community to coordinate and to provide all impacted regions and cities with a robust long-term humanitarian food aid programme, via all possible forums, such as the Committee on World Food Security, to make up for the lack of Ukrainian food production and the disruption of the food chain;

2. Underlines the importance of ending the Russian-instigated war, securing peace and restoring stability in Ukraine, so that Ukraine’s agricultural sector can recover and the country’s food security can be ensured; calls for the EU to make every effort, when it is possible, to support Ukraine’s agricultural recovery and to ensure uninterrupted sowing in Ukraine through the provision of seeds and fertilisers that are scarce;

3. Notes with grave concern that a prolongation of this war would mean that countries that rely on affordable wheat exports from Ukraine could face major shortages in the coming months, notably in developing and least developed partner countries that already faced acute malnutrition before this new crisis; calls on the Commission and the Member States to take action to urgently support these countries in the short term, by supporting local communities, authorities and NGOs in order to mitigate the urgent need for food and to continue strengthening support to these countries in order to avoid greater food scarcity in exposed regions, with special attention to the most vulnerable communities, and in order to build resilience in their food supply chains in the medium to long term by strengthening their agricultural sector via the EU’s humanitarian and development policy nexus approach; calls on the international community, including Member States, to share information on stocks, harvests and food availability in an attempt to compensate for supply problems worldwide and avoid a global food crisis;

4. Underlines that countries located near the conflict area, those with fragile developing economies and those receiving the majority of Ukrainian refugees will be the most affected by the war in Ukraine; calls on the Commission and the Member States to support these countries and to ensure that enough food supplies are available;

5. Stresses the urgent need to review the EU’s approach to food security, to reduce the overall dependence of the EU food system, to build increased resilience into the food supply chain, particularly at the level of access to inputs, and to address the weaknesses that an over-reliance on imports of energy, feed and fertilisers from single or too few suppliers and a lack of diversification of supply chains have exposed; notes that measures across the entire food supply chain beyond the adequate level of production should be considered to address the impact on the price of commodities and the affordability of food;

6. Insists that the aims and objectives of the Farm to Fork Strategy and the wider Green Deal should not be undermined in the immediate moves to increase resilience and build self-sufficiency in relation to inputs; highlights that measures to increase the efficiency of input use and the availability of more sustainable alternatives and practices and measures to address food waste, as set out in the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Green Deal, thus reducing reliance on inputs such as harmful plant protection products, and chemical fertilisers, are the building blocks for ensuring a robust EU agricultural sector and agri-food supply chain in the medium to long term;

7. Recalls, however, that the objectives and targets of the Farm to Fork Strategy must first undergo a comprehensive impact assessment, and that the co-legislators responsibility will be, while implementing the roadmaps leading to the Farm to Fork targets, to set the conditions to avoid any decline in agricultural production levels in Europe or emission leakage; highlights that in light of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the further strain on EU agricultural, fisheries and aquaculture food chains, the urgency of studying all these impacts has increased, potential impacts on food security have to be carefully assessed and a comprehensive study on the dependence of our food system on inputs and their sources should also be commissioned;

8. Calls for the expert group of the EFSCM to accelerate its structural work on the mapping of the risks and vulnerability of the EU food supply chain and its critical infrastructures and for there to be clear and swift channels of communication and information on contingency planning for ensuring the EU’s full potential on food supply, food security and reducing the dependence of the EU’s agriculture on imports and inputs while making a positive contribution to the Union’s overall trade balance;

9. Calls on the Commission to prepare without delay a detailed action plan to ensure food security within the EU, building on the lessons learned from the contingency plan presented in November 2021, where applicable, and to address the weaknesses that an over-reliance on imports of energy, feed and fertilisers from single or too few suppliers and a lack of diversification of supply chains have exposed;

10. Notes that this action plan represents an opportunity to accelerate the achievement of the objectives of the Green Deal, which will strengthen the robustness of EU food supply chains within a green circular economy and offer incentives to farmers, fishers and stakeholders along the food supply chain to move towards more sustainable, efficient and self-sufficient production methods and tools via the increased uptake of innovative tools, cultivation technologies and sustainable processes and practices, all of which will help to decrease the EU’s reliance on imported inputs, including by deploying short-term investments to scale up the uptake of technologies and practices aimed at meeting the objectives of the Farm to Fork Strategy;

11. Calls on the Member States to implement measures and use available tools to strengthen their food supply chains; insists that measures taken must not compromise the integrity of the single market, nor undermine measures to increase resilience in the food supply chain across the EU, nor increase energy dependency on Russian resources;

12. Highlights the importance of addressing the problem of food waste at all stages of the chain in the short term in order to reduce pressure on the food supply in Europe; repeats its call for the required measures to be taken to achieve an EU food waste reduction target of 30 % by 2025 and 50 % by 2030 compared with the 2014 baseline;[5]

13. Expresses concern that the current situation will put both financial and practical pressures on some producers in terms of meeting existing targets and legislative obligations, due to lack of investment, reduced liquidity and market uncertainty; notes in this regard that a pragmatic approach to controls may be required;

14. Stresses that, at the level of production, strengthened measures and incentives will be needed to build resilience, such as by increasing circularity and input self-sufficiency while not undermining the productive capacity and competiveness of EU agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, tools such as moving towards precision farming, developing and fast-tracking access to markets of alternative proteins, organic fertilisers, microbial protection of crops and new genome techniques in line with the objectives of the Green Deal, and allowing, during this CAP transition year, for temporary and short-term flexibilities with conditionalities and derogations to be considered and accelerating the administrative procedures to achieve these flexibilities;

15. Underlines that the protein deficit in the EU continues to be a major weakness and calls for an increased and committed approach to increasing EU plant protein production in a sustainable manner via CAP strategic plans and other measures;

16. Recognises the urgent need for temporary and reversible measures to step up EU production for the 2022 harvesting season in order to contribute to EU food security; calls on the Commission, in light of the need to overcome the immediate shortfall of protein crops, to accelerate the administrative procedures to make it possible during this CAP transition year to use set-aside land for the production of these crops for human or animal consumption and without increasing dependence on inputs; calls in this regard for priority to be given to protein crops that require no or very low inputs of pesticides;

17. Notes that in order to reduce dependence on chemical fertilisers, alternative organic sources of nutrients and nutrient circulation should be utilised to the fullest as soon as possible; calls on the Commission to address legislative and practical barriers to the realisation of this solution in order to reduce the dependence on imports of fertilisers, firstly via a switch to organic fertilisers in the short term and secondly via further support for research and new innovations at EU level; calls on the Commission, in particular, to take the necessary measures, including legislative ones, to enhance the use of organic fertilising products obtained from sewage sludge and processed manure in order to substitute chemical fertilisers, provided that it does not run counter to the objectives of the Farm to Fork Strategy;

18. Calls on the Commission to assess the possibility and feasibility of mobilising additional financial support for the most affected sectors and to take urgent measures to help farmers cushion the effect of the severe increase in fertiliser prices;

19. Stresses the interlinkages between sustainability and increased circularity in agriculture with the move away from dependence on fossil fuels, imported energy and chemical fertilisers and towards greener, renewable alternatives;

20. Underlines the need, and possibility, for EU farmers to increase EU production and their use of bioenergy such as biogas and biofuels, as well as renewable energy, such as solar cells, as a tool to mitigate soaring energy prices; notes that these are beneficial for the climate, from a diversification view, and their production can also create an additional income source for farmers;

21. Calls on the Commission to mitigate the impact on farmers and producers of the loss of markets due to retaliatory measures taken by Russia in response to sanctions imposed by the EU, to consider measures to help them, including compensation, and to help them find alternative export markets for their products;

22. Calls on the Commission to apply exceptional measures, including private storage aid, for agricultural products facing market issues; notes its intention to make this aid available to the pigmeat sector; urges the Commission to create a mechanism that allows products from private storage to be accessed by non-governmental organisations and other bodies to help ensure food security in Ukraine; believes that this mechanism could also be used through the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) in Member States hosting refugees in order to meet the urgent need to provide additional food;

23. Considers that the European fishing sector is key for European food security and regrets that its situation has deteriorated significantly due to rapidly increasing global prices on important commodities for the sector and in particular the skyrocketing fuel prices, which have made fishing operations no longer economically viable; believes that this situation requires urgent assistance, including direct support; points out that this assistance must ensure continued operations of EU fishing fleets and by extension the continuation of operations further along the supply chain of fisheries and aquaculture products; calls on the Commission and the Member States to acknowledge this difficult situation for the fishing sector and to properly address it in upcoming actions; notes that in order to address the increase in fuel prices, it is important in the long term to stimulate the development and use of innovative, selective fishing methods and techniques with higher fuel efficiency;

24. Calls on the Commission to act to ensure that State aid provisions for agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, including de minimis provisions, allow Member States to grant rapid and flexible support to operators in order to compensate for the increased costs related to the war in Ukraine; highlights in this regard that Member States, within their national framework, should also consider assistance such as reducing social security contributions, suspending or reducing certain taxes and extending COVID-19 loans; calls on the Commission to ensure that State aid does not lead to distortion of competition and that a level playing field between Member States is guaranteed;

25. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that the new EMFAF will be operational as soon as possible and asks the Commission to consider taking action to allow for emergency aid to be possible under the fund also in times of crisis such as the war in Ukraine; urges the mobilisation of any remaining funds from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and strongly urges the Commission and Member States to accelerate the implementation of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve in order to ensure that support reaches Brexit-affected areas faster;

26. Notes that measures across the entire food supply chain should be considered to ensure that all stakeholders play a role in bolstering the resilience of the agri-and aquatic food sector and that these measures must contribute to the goals and objectives of the EU transition to climate neutrality by 2050; Considers that in line with the rapid implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/633 on unfair trading practices, particular focus should be placed on the viability of farming, and on the significant role of retailers in determining fair returns to producers, particularly in light of the pressures arising from the increased cost of inputs, but in equal measure, their responsibility to ensure that food remains affordable and accessible for consumers;

27. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to closely monitor the agricultural and aquatic food markets, paying particular attention to price speculations, and using, where appropriate, the tools provided in Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, while ensuring the integrity of the single market;

28. Recalls that several Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea have been shut down, disrupting international trade of food, and calls on the Commission and Member States to enable safe transport and food corridors to and from Ukraine via alternative ports, as well as via railway and road transport;

29. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and the Council and to the governments and parliaments of the Member States.

 

Last updated: 17 March 2022
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