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))
pursuant to Rule 132(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Veronika Vrecionová, Bert‑Jan Ruissen, Zbigniew Kuźmiuk, Krzysztof Jurgiel, Ladislav Ilčić, Nicola Procaccini
on behalf of the ECR Group
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B9-0160/2022
B9‑0166/2022
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
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its resolution of 1 March 2022 on the Russian aggression against Ukraine[1],
– having regard to Article 39 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas the Russian Federation and Ukraine are net exporters of agricultural products and both play leading supply roles on the global foodstuffs, fertiliser and energy markets;
B. whereas the Russian invasion of Ukraine poses an immediate threat to global food security, most urgently owing to the disruption of food supplies to the Ukrainian people and also to other countries heavily reliant on Ukraine’s production of staple crops, with the consequent and imminent risk of geopolitical instability;
C. whereas, due to the paralysis of Ukrainian exports, including destroyed infrastructure and the blockade of Black Sea ports, there is a high probability of shortages of several agricultural commodities and energy supplies, particularly in the EU and also in the neighbouring continents;
D. whereas the conflict is set to increase humanitarian needs in Ukraine, while deepening those of millions of people who, prior to its escalation, were already displaced or required assistance due to the conflict in the eastern part of the country, which has been going on for more than eight years;
E. whereas humanitarian needs in neighbouring countries, where displaced populations are seeking refuge, are also set to increase;
F. whereas the agriculture sector has been faced with extremely high input prices for months, and is unable to recover these input costs further downstream in the value chain;
G. whereas EU markets have been experiencing an energy price crisis for over a year; whereas Russia has actively contributed to the deepening of the crisis, mainly by ceasing to fill Gazprom-owned or leased storage facilities in selected EU countries, lack of interest in selling crude oil on European exchanges and ceasing to book additional capacity on selected export pipelines;
H. whereas agricultural land is already a precious resource and will become even more so in order to produce sufficient food and feed to feed citizens in the EU, Ukraine and globally;
I. whereas the fisheries sector has been facing a difficult economic situation for months, with a steep increase in gas and electricity prices and logistics costs;
1. Condemns in the strongest possible terms the Russian Federation’s illegal, unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against and invasion of Ukraine, as well as the involvement of Belarus in this aggression; demands that the Russian Federation immediately terminate all military activities in Ukraine; stresses that the Russian invasion of Ukraine poses an immediate threat to global food security, most urgently owing to the disruption of food supplies to the Ukrainian people and also to other countries heavily reliant on Ukraine’s production of staple crops, with the consequent and imminent risk of geopolitical instability;
2. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to contribute to safeguarding the upcoming sowing season in Ukraine in every way possible; underlines that humanitarian aid is needed to tackle immediate, life-threatening situations such as the ones that Ukraine is now facing;
3. Considers that, in the current situation, it is particularly important that the environmental objectives outlined in EU policies be reviewed in the light of their cumulative impact on EU food security and the sector’s economic stability;
4. Calls on the Commission to carry out a comprehensive cumulative impact assessment of the Green Deal targets, factoring in the potential consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine for European and global food security, combined with the predicted falls in food production as a consequence of the Green Deal targets;
5. Calls on the Commission to suspend all initiatives under the Green Deal that negatively impact food production;
6. Calls on the Commission to ensure that agricultural land is primarily used only for the purposes of producing food and feed, and notably not for the production of biofuels, to ensure food security not only for EU citizens, but for millions of Ukrainian refugees in the EU, as well as globally;
7. Calls on the Commission to provide for immediate exceptional support measures for the EU agricultural sectors hit by the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the functioning of the supply chain, or by the consequences of sanctions imposed on Russia; urges the Commission to use any budgetary margins available to this end, but to use the crisis reserve as a last resort only, as the use of this reserve would have a direct negative effect on income support to all farmers;
8. Calls on the Commission to prioritise in its action plan actions aimed at increasing the Union’s food production, including by modification of national strategic plans with the aim of increasing the acreage of land under production in the EU;
9. Calls on the Commission to allow agricultural production in areas set aside as Ecological Focus Areas and to allow the use of plant protection products in these areas in order to ensure stable yields; calls on the Commission to suspend the rules on crop diversification so that farmers can produce crops for which shortages are expected;
10. Urges the Commission to provide full clarity to the Member States as regards the force majeure clause in the current and new CAP, as well as in further legislation;
11. While acknowledging that full substitution of mineral fertilisers is impossible, underlines that in order to reduce the EU’s dependence on mineral fertilisers, alternative organic sources of nutrients should be used to the fullest extent as soon as possible; calls on the Commission to address the legislative and practical barriers to the implementation of this solution to fertiliser import dependency; calls in particular for the use of products obtained from processed manure and sewage sludge to be allowed as an alternative to chemical fertilisers in the Nitrates Directive if they meet the RENURE criteria established by the Joint Research Centre;
12. Stresses that an integral part of the EU action plan to ensure EU food security must be a strategy to increase EU energy independence from Russian supplies, including the complete abandonment of the Nord Stream 2 project, while maintaining EU energy security;
13. Urges the Commission to duly uphold the integrity of the EU single market and to rule out export bans by individual Member States on other Member States or any other impediments to the proper functioning of the single market;
14. Calls on the Commission to monitor exports from the EU and to monitor the volume of staple foods in EU storage facilities;
15. Calls on the Commission to reconsider and suspend all instruments linked to the Green Deal that hinder, or will hinder in the near future, trade with non-EU countries, notably with Ukraine, which will not be in a position to comply with all EU environmental and climate-related standards;
16. Highlights the need for policies to be country-driven, needs-based and context-appropriate, as food systems are very diverse;
17. Points out that the impact on commodity prices triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine on top of the post-pandemic market recovery is a substantial problem for the production of seafood by the fishing industry; stresses that this has led to a situation in which it is impossible for many fishing vessels to go to sea and achieve a revenue that is higher than the costs of their fishery operations; calls on the Commission to propose emergency measures to alleviate the economic situation of fisheries operators, to allow the use of innovation and to tackle the risk on the markets;
18. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the President, Government and Parliament of Ukraine, and the President, Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation.
- [1] Texts adopted, P9_TA(2022)0052.