Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – Agriculture "defends itself by supporting it, not only with words but also with deeds. Therefore, first and foremost, cuts to the Common Agricultural Policy cannot be accepted." This was stated by Isabella Tovaglieri, MEP for the League (PfE), during the debate "Europe as Seen by Italians: Hopes and Uncertainties about Made in Europe," organized by Italiavanti, a SocialCom publishing project, reflecting on the changes proposed by the European Commission to the next Multiannual Financial Framework, the EU budget for the seven-year period 2028-2034.
According to the Northern League MEP, farmers' incomes need to be supported "not because our agriculture is of poor quality or insufficiently competitive, but because it is forced to compete in a scenario where unfair competition is often the order of the day, and unfortunately, sometimes even supported by flawed EU policies."
He is referring to the Generalized System of Preferences, a framework recently revised by the European Parliament, under which the EU eliminates or significantly lowers tariffs on a series of emerging nations to encourage their growth.
The Patriots group in the European Parliament "voted against this dossier, which effectively opens the door once again to unethical imports of foreign rice without sufficiently protective safeguard clauses, thus once again compromising our rice growers," Tovaglieri emphasized.
Another example he gives is the agreement between the EU and Mercosur "which once again boycotts our agriculture. Therefore, a coherent community policy is needed, not because farmers should have preferential treatment over other sectors, but because if we believe that agriculture is a political value, it must be supported consistently in words and deeds."
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