Timmermans lets Thunberg down again on green
farming
Activists poured scorn on political difficulties in
reforming the Common Agricultural Policy as ‘bullshit.’
Frans Timmermans told Greta Thunberg and other youth
campaigners that he didn't have enough public backing to deliver on their
demands to withdraw the Commission’s proposal to revamp the CAP |
BY KARL
MATHIESEN AND EDDY WAX
May 17,
2021 9:40 pm
EU Green
Deal chief Frans Timmermans wants Greta Thunberg and other activists to fight
for a climate-friendly farming policy, despite refusing to scrap the Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform they've lambasted for not being green enough.
In a Monday
call that ran overtime, Timmermans told Thunberg and other youth campaigners
that he didn't have enough public backing to deliver on their demands to
withdraw the Commission’s proposal to revamp the CAP — despite acknowledging
the likely outcome was “far from perfect,” according to Maximilian Herzog, one
of the activists on the call. It's the third time Timmermans has delivered a
similar message.
“We don't
expect him to withdraw the CAP, as he said he would not have enough support for
that,” Thunberg said, accusing the man in charge of EU climate policy of “not
treating the crisis like a crisis.”
But she
conceded climate activists needed to convince the public. “We know that the
changes will not come from inside, from negotiations, from politicians
discussing these things with lobbyists. The changes will come when there is
enough public opinion, that enough people are aware and are pushing for change”
she said.
That's a
big demand for a program that gobbles up a third of the bloc's budget and is an
economic mainstay for millions of politically powerful farmers.
An EU
official said Timmermans had “pointed to the importance of public mobilization
in support of ambitious climate action to convince politicians and decision-makers
to act.”
Others on
the call were less forgiving. “He said, 'It’s the people, the people aren’t
ready for it,' and I think that’s utter bullshit,” said Sommer Ackerman, a
Finland-based British climate activist.
“The people
are ready,” said Ackerman. Rather, she said it was Europe’s powerful farming
lobby standing against sound climate policy.
Powerful farmers
Speaking at
a webinar last week, Timmermans said: “Reform is extremely difficult. I know
that because there are so many vested interests.”
Talks on
the CAP are entering what could be their endgame, with a climactic round of
talks between MEPs and national ministers taking place in Brussels on May 25
and 26. They will cover hefty topics like how many billions of euros will be
available for new, voluntary eco-schemes and how strictly to set basic
environmental conditions for farmers to receive subsidies.
Advocates
for greener reforms in the Parliament are worried that the talks are being set
up to bulldoze their concerns and have accused the Commission of failing to
propose compromises.
Few
politicians working on climate change pass what some refer to as the “Greta
test.” But criticism from the world’s most prominent climate activist over
farming reforms is a particularly painful point for Timmermans, especially
since the Dutchman has cultivated Thunberg as an ally.
It also
exposes the limits of his remit. “We see Timmermans putting pressure on the
Council, really playing hardball, but it’s not the Commission that takes
decisions," said Jeroen Candel, an assistant professor in food and
agriculture policy at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
The EU
Green Deal is intended to be the carbon yardstick against which all other
policies are measured. But many worry that agriculture, producing 10 percent of
the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions, will be allowed to stay exempt from the
broader drive to make the Continent carbon neutral by 2050.
Timmermans
threatened last year to hit the nuclear button and withdraw the CAP proposal,
but was forced to retreat after his boss Ursula von der Leyen said she wasn’t
going to do it.
“In a way
it’s undemocratic," Candel said of the pressure on Timmermans. "You
may not like the outcome but this is how European decision-making works.” If
climate activists succeed in scrapping the CAP, that could prompt farming
interest groups to try to scuttle any more environmentally ambitious
replacement proposal, he warned.
The
academic said that despite all the criticism from climate activists, the
European Commission is making a more ambitious push to align the CAP with the
Green Deal than the Council and the Parliament, where “agricultural
hard-liners” oppose a greener reform.
“I think
the Commission is the environmental motor of the three institutions,” he said,
adding that activists should focus their attention on national farming
ministries that are currently drafting plans for how they will implement the
new CAP.
The
campaigners plan to ramp up pressure. “We are not lobbyists and we are not
asking for compromises or negotiations, all we are doing is … using our
platforms,” said Thunberg.
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