European farmers\u2019 unions Copa and Cogeca said they will push back against the Commission\u2019s plans for the next agricultural budget by lobbying member states and MEPs rather than staging mass protests.<\/p>\n
The organisations called the past months a \u201cblack summer\u201d,<\/a> pointing to the EU executive\u2019s proposal to cut Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) spending by 25-30% in the next budget period and the launch of the EU-Mercosur ratification process. Representatives from across the bloc met this week to coordinate their response.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is not money, it is the structure\u201d of the next CAP that \u201cis unacceptable,\u201d Copa president Massimiliano Giansanti told reporters at a press conference on Friday.<\/p>\n But diplomacy first. Rather than staging more large demonstrations<\/a> in Brussels, the unions plan to focus on advocacy with lawmakers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not alone,\u201d Giansanti said, pointing to the poor reception the Commission\u2019s proposal has received in both the European Parliament<\/a> and the Council<\/a>. The union intends to engage with these institutions to find a \u201cpath that is different from the one with the Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n They also want to take the lobbying to the top. \u201cWhen President von der Leyen decides to meet with [us], we will be here\u201d, Giansanti said.<\/p>\n But tractors remain close at hand. \u201cWe are not afraid to protest again, we will certainly do so if necessary, the tractors are ready,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Timing could be crucial: \u201cBetween now and Christmas, there will be many moments that could be ideal for protesting,\u201d he said, citing \u201cimportant decisions\u201d expected in the Parliament in Strasbourg and the Council.<\/p>\n At the national level, the pressure is already visible. French farmers took to the streets on Friday to protest against budget cuts and the EU-Mercosur deal.<\/p>\n (adm)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European farmers\u2019 unions Copa and Cogeca said they will push back against the Commission\u2019s plans for the next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699],"class_list":{"0":"post-456592","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115279048413506028","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}