EU Proposes Cutting Red Tape And Checks For Farmers Amid Protests

The European Commission on Thursday proposed relaxing some environmental demands on farmers, simplifying administration and cutting the number of checks in a bid to assuage angry protests from the agriculture sector

Brussels, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Feb, 2024) The European Commission on Thursday proposed relaxing some environmental demands on farmers, simplifying administration and cutting the number of checks in a bid to assuage angry protests from the agriculture sector.

"The message from farmers is clear: they want to be working in their fields, not stuck behind files," EU agriculture commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski wrote on X.

"In response, the commission has identified a range of EU-level actions that could help to ease the administrative burden on farmers over the coming months and years."

Farmers have been blocking roads and dumping produce in countries across the bloc, from France to Poland, irate over what they see as excessive environmental requirements and cheap imports.

The protests have unnerved EU leaders concerned that they could prove a boon for the far right at European elections in June.

Brussels insists it is listening to the concerns and Thursday's proposals are part of a raft of concessions aimed at trying to calm the farmers.

The latest suggestions -- to be discussed by EU agricultural ministers on Monday -- include easing demands for former livestock farmers to convert their land into grassland.

The commission also envisions changing the way on-site checks work in a bid to cut the number of visits farmers face by 50 percent.

Farmers across Europe have been demanding an end to restrictions on agricultural production, cutting red tape for farming and introducing changes to the EU-Ukraine arrangements on farming imports.

They claim competition from Ukrainian products has battered their earnings because Ukrainian farmers are not bound by EU rules on issues such as animal welfare.

Brussels has made several concessions in recent weeks after farmers across Europe blamed the Common Agricultural Policy and the EU's upcoming "Green Deal" for their problems.

That included extending a suspension of rules on the amount of land that has to be left fallow and strengthening safeguards to stop Ukrainian imports flooding the market under a tariff-free scheme introduced in the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion.