Activities of Caroline ROOSE related to 2020/2260(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
Amendments (25)
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
-1. Whereas FAO estimates that about 75 % of plant genetic diversity has been lost worldwide; whereas wide-scale genetic erosion increases our vulnerability to climate change and to the appearance of new pests and diseases;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 a (new)
Paragraph -1 a (new)
-1 a. Whereas industrial agriculture and breeding are driving habitat loss and creating conditions for viruses, such as Covid-19, to emerge and spread;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 b (new)
Paragraph -1 b (new)
-1 b. Whereas consolidation of the food sector, including through patenting, is driving a reduction in seed and livestock genetic diversity;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 c (new)
Paragraph -1 c (new)
-1 c. Whereas farmers’ rights were established under the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 2004, but whereas Intellectual Property rules have often worked in contradiction to them, putting local, traditional and indigenous seed systems at risk;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Underlines that the disruptions triggered by COVID-19 have shone a spotlight on the vulnerabilities of the global food system; but recalls that family farmers and smallholders have demonstrated their ability to provide diversified products and to increase food production sustainably; accordingly, urges a shift away from trade- oriented agricultural policies and towards support for food sovereignty and local and regional markets; recalls that agroecology’s capacity to reconcile the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability has been widely recognised in landmark reports, notably from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the World Bank and FAO-led global International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD);
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Insists that EU funding for agriculture must be in line with Agenda 2030Stresses that short supply chains hold major potential to address current food system failures; and recalls that climate-friendly agriculture entails i.e. to reducing dependence on fossil fuel energy, including the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers; but notes with concern that most agricultural development funding in Sub-Sahara Africa still supports Green Revolution approaches, where the use of public finances to unlock private investment opportunities (e.g. PPPs, blended finance models) mostly target export commodity production and agropoles, and is increasingly conductive to food system industrialisation, while smallholders, and particularly women, struggle in the meantime to access the credit and financial support[1]; insists that EU funding for agriculture must be in line with Agenda 2030, the Paris Climate Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity and prioritise investments in agroecology, agroforestry and crop diversification; stresses the importance of preserving agricultural biodiversity, local animal and plant breeds and local varieties;recalls that agricultural expansion and unsustainable agricultural intensification practises are major causes of biodiversity degradation worldwide, including genetic erosion of crop and livestock varieties; therefore, stresses the importance of preserving agricultural biodiversity, local animal and plant breeds and local varieties to secure nutritious, safe, affordable and high quality food throughout the year, preserve biodiversity and increase climate resilience; [1] Sources: International Panel of Experts on SustainableFood Systems - IPES Food, « The added value(s) of agroecology : Unlocking the potential for transition in West Africa”, July 2020.
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Recalls that the majority of smallholder farmers in developing countries are women, and that the promotion of a long term strategy of conservation, improvement and management of genetic resources diversity for food and agriculture requires the recognition of their role and knowledge as food providers and producers; urges the EU and its Member States to strive, notably through development aid, for their active participation as decision makers, and to help addressing the discriminations they face, notably regarding access of women farmers to land, productive resources and financial services;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Regrets that increasing vertical and horizontal concentration in the agri-food sector, reinforces the industrial food and farming model; believes that the Green New Deal requires the creation of a new anti-trust environment; , at the expense of small farmers and breeders in Europe and abroad; highlights that industry consolidation enhances the risks of human rights abuses along their supply chains; reminds equally that while the livestock industry experiences further vertical integration, zoonotic and food- borne disease risks to proliferate; in contrast, stresses that development and dissemination of livestock species are maintained by small-scale producers and pastoralists; against this backdrop, believes that the Green New Deal requires the creation of a new anti-trust environment, where the impacts of concentration on production and processing activities are assessed and monitored, including on social, environmental and public health;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Recalls that seed diversity is vital in building resilience of farming to climate change; calls for the EU to support intellectual property rights regimes that enhance the development of locally adapted seed varieties and farmer- saved seeds;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Notes with concern that EU free trade agreements (FTAs) require Parties to ensure the protection of plant varieties in accordance with the revised 1991 International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), which is incompatible with the provisions of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), which safeguards the rights of farmers to maintain genetic resources for purposes of food security and climate change adaptation; reminds that farm-saved seeds are estimated to account for over 80% of farmers’ total seed requirements in some African countries; therefore, urges the EU to refrain from influencing seed law reform, notably in Africa, through the adoption of 1991 UPOV provisions;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3 c. Calls on the EU to support developing countries to adopt appropriate national legislation with the view to protect threatened genetic resources for food and agriculture, guarantee their continued use and management by local communities, indigenous peoples, men and women, and ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from their use;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 d (new)
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3 d. Highlights the risks relating to the development of genome editing on small farmers and breeders; calls for a global moratorium on gene drive research linked to the development of applications and on releases of gene drive organisms into nature, including field trials, and to uphold the precautionary principle, as enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) as well as the Convention on Biological Diversity;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 e (new)
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3 e. Recalls Europe’s dependence on overseas land for its livestock and aquaculture production; acknowledges the devastating environmental impact of genetically modified (GM) soya for animal feed; stresses that transgenic crops are not compatible with agro-ecological and organic agriculture, as they are, almost without exception, either herbicide tolerant (including to glyphosate) or produce their own toxic insecticides, or both; but recalls that more diverse farming systems based on agro-ecology provide a natural defence against pests; calls on the Commission to no longer authorise Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) crops that are either herbicide tolerant or which produce their own pesticides, either for import or cultivation in the EU, due to biodiversity damage and health risks;
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 f (new)
Paragraph 3 f (new)
3 f. Urges the Commission to set up a European vegetable protein production and supply strategy, with the view to become less dependent on genetically modified (GM) feed imports and to create shorter food chains and regional markets;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that the EU-Mercosur Agreement is inconsistent with the Farm to Fork Strategy, in particular its objectives of reduction of dependence on animal feed (including soybeans grown on deforested land), and the shift to a more plant-based diet and shorter supply chains and to become global standard for sustainability; deplores, in particular, that it boosts embodied deforestation; facilitates the importation of genetically modified foods containing residues pesticides, the production and/or use of which is prohibited on European soil and provides for the removal of barriers to trade in chemical pesticides;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that EU free trade agreements (FTAs) should not disrupt local agriculture, damage small producers or exacerbate dependency on food imports; calls into question international trade rules which allow dumping through the WTO green box; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to compliance of EU trade agreements with the Paris Agreement,more specifically, calls on the EU to embark on a modification of the current WTO definition of dumping, with the aim to cover cases where subsidies enable export sales to take place at below the costs of production; welcomes the Commission’s commitment to compliance of EU trade agreements with the Paris Agreement by turning it into an “essential clause”; stresses that to be enforceable, environmental objectives set in EU FTAs must be clear, measurable, verifiable and include sanctions for non-compliance; and calls for market access in FTAs to be conditional on compliance with process and production methods criteria, with reference to environmental sustainability and climate change;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Highlights that trade agreements can have a negative impact on food security in developing countries; recalls as well that EU consumption represents around 10% of the global share of deforestation, through its high import dependency of agricultural commodities such as palm oil, meat, soy, cocoa, maize, timber, rubber; in addition, notes with concern that biodiversity of cultivated crops and farmed animals has decreased because of international trade, while specialisation in agriculture has a downside negative effect for ecosystem, that are less diverse, and therefore less functional and less resilient;
Amendment 77 #
5 b. Urges the EU to guarantee the coherence of European agricultural and trade policies in line with the commitments to Policy Coherence for Development (PCD); calls for a fully- fledged sustainability ex ante and ex post impact assessment of EU free trade agreements (FTAs); more broadly, calls for the EU to support developing countries’ demands to protect their food production and to safeguard their population from the potentially destructive effects of cheap imports, notably through the revision of their common external tariffs within the remit of revised economic partnership agreements (EPAs); which shall support effectively the integration of regional market;
Amendment 81 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Denounces the EU’s double standards on pesticides, which allow the export from the EU of hazardous substances banned in the EU.Recalls that “Farm to Fork” strategy aims to gradually ban hazardous pesticides from agriculture and promote alternative practises; denounces the EU’s double standards on pesticides, which allow the export from the EU of hazardous substances banned in the EU. recalls EU’s commitments towards the “do-not-harm principle”; demands the modification of the current EU rules to eliminate this legal incoherence, in line with the Rotterdam Convention of 1998 and the Green Deal;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Recalls that progress still needs to be made for Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements to become truly sustainable, highlights that these agreements must be in line with best available scientific advice and must neither threaten the small-scale fisheries sector in third countries nor undermine local food security;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 36 a (new)
Citation 36 a (new)
- having regard to the 2020 report commissioned by the European Parliament’s Committee on Petitions, entitled “Ending the Cage Age: Looking for Alternatives”,
Amendment 245 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas European citizens are increasingly concerned about the welfare of animals in the agricultural sector and expect the EU to transition away from intensive farming practices, like caged farming; whereas the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “End the Cage Age”, which calls on the EU to phase-out the use of cages in animal farming, has collected nearly 1.4 million certified signatures, qualifying as one of the few successful ECIs; whereas the European Committee of the Regions committed to the objective of ending caged farming and many EU member states already adopted national legislation which goes beyond the minimum EU standards, increasing the urgency for legislative action, at the EU level, to end this inhumane practice and ensuring a level-playing field for farmers across the EU;
Amendment 289 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the European model of a multifunctional agricultural sector, driven by family farms, continues to ensure quality food production, local supply chains, good agriculture practices, high environmental standards and vibrant rural areas throughout the EU; whereas this agricultural model is endangered by the ongoing takeover of production capacities by industrial and multinational companies that rely on large-scale, automated and cage-based production methods;
Amendment 1039 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Recalls that each years, in the EU alone, over 300 million farmed animals spend all, or a significant part, of their lives imprisoned in cages; stresses that this practice causes tremendous suffering, as these sentient beings cannot perform most of their natural behaviours, resulting in physical and psychological illness; calls on the Commission to put forward, without delay, a legislative proposal to phase-out the use of cages for all farmed animals, while ensuring, together with Member States, appropriate measures to assist farmers in this transition;
Amendment 1440 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls for primary producers to be supported in making the transition to greater sustainability, including cage-free animal farming, through the encouragement of cooperation and collective actions as well as through competition rules and the enhancement of possibilities for cooperation within the common market organisations for agricultural, fishery and aquaculture products, and thus for farmers’ and fishers’ position in the supply chain to be strengthened in order to enable them to capture a fair share of the added value of sustainable production;