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 adopted by 413 votes to 120, with 49 abstentions, 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.

The text adopted in plenary was tabled by the EPP, S&D, Renew and ECR groups.

Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, global agricultural markets saw a rise in prices, due partly to climate effects and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rising energy prices in Europe are having a significant impact on the agricultural, fisheries and aquaculture sectors, with increased fertiliser prices and higher energy costs for farmers.

Underlining that the current conflict in Ukraine is shining a spotlight on the vulnerabilities of the global food system, Parliament urges the EU to safeguard the rights of developing countries to food security, as a means of achieving nutritional security, poverty reduction and inclusive, sustainable and fair global supply chains and local regional markets, devoting particular attention to family farming, with the aim of securing the supply of affordable and accessible food.

Increased support

The resolution underlines the importance of restoring stability in Ukraine, so that its agricultural sector can recover and the country’s food security can be ensured. It calls for the EU to make every effort, when it is possible, to support Ukraine’s agricultural production through the provision of seeds, fuel and fertilisers that are scarce.

Parliament calls for an immediate and coordinated response and the deployment of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism to maximise support to Ukraine, especially in terms of humanitarian assistance and food aid, as well as by providing safe EU humanitarian corridors and offering food and shelter to all people fleeing the country.

The resolution highlights that while EU financial humanitarian support has been estimated to amount to around EUR 500 million so far, further support is needed. The EU should provide humanitarian assistance to the Ukrainian people to ensure short-term food security in Ukraine.

Increase EU production

The resolution notes that the EU must not only become more independent in strategic areas such as defence or energy supply, but must also be able to ensure food security at all times by increasing resilience in sectors where the EU is highly dependent on imports.

Parliament recognises, in view of the exceptional circumstances, 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. It 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 fallow land for the production of these crops for human or animal consumption, without increasing dependence on inputs. In this regard, Members called for priority to be given to protein crops and for a comprehensive European protein strategy to be proposed in order to increase European protein production and reduce the EU’s dependency on third countries in this regard;

Reducing the EU’s dependency

Parliament urged the EU is urged to fundamentally reconsider its strategies for ensuring full independence from Russian supplies as regards its critical raw materials and stresses that there can be no return to business as usual. Parliament reiterates its previous calls for the significant reduction of energy dependence, in particular on Russian gas, oil and coal, by, inter alia, diversifying energy sources and increasing energy efficiency and the speed of the clean energy transition. In this regard, the resolution calls for the complete abandonment of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 projects, while maintaining EU energy security.

Stressing that sanctions may have a specific impact on European households in terms of food prices and energy costs, Member States are called on to prepare plans and support for households to address the cost of living crisis.

The Commission should prepare a detailed action plan without delay to ensure the correct functioning of the EU’s food supply chains and ensure food security within the EU in the long term.

The resolution recognises that the disruption of the trade patterns that existed prior to the invasion shows that the EU must urgently consider how to develop more autonomous agricultural, fisheries and aquaculture systems producing food and feed in the long term, reducing the EU’s dependence on imports and increasing domestic production.

Emergency measures

The Commission and the Member States are called on to increase their contributions to the World Food Programme by using the Solidarity and Emergency Aid Reserve provided for in the multiannual financial framework.

Members call on the Council and the Commission to urgently release the crisis reserve of EUR 479 million to aid the agricultural sector in coping with the current market challenges.

Moreover, Parliament urges the Commission to propose emergency measures to support fisheries, aquaculture and the whole value chain (processing, retail, etc.) in the EU.

Lastly, Parliament calls on the Commission to consider amending the State Aid Temporary Framework adopted in March 2020 in order to allow Member States to use full flexibility under the State aid rules to support the economy.