Commission shirks responsibility on food crisis response, says German minister

 The European Commission is deliberately leaving difficult decisions up to the member states, German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir said on Monday (25 July), after the EU executive decided on more flexibility around sustainable farming rules through 2023.

On Friday evening, the Commission announced that it would temporarily loosen, for one year, certain environmental requirements enshrined in the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the EU’s massive farming subsidies programme.

The decision to grant these so-called derogations is meant to help ramp up domestic production as global food markets are shaken up by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Instead of assuming responsibility for a sustainable agricultural policy itself, the Commission is passing the buck to member states,” Özdemir said via Twitter on Monday morning, adding that the derogations should therefore be treated with caution. (...)