While the European Union prepares for the upcoming elections scheduled for June 6-9, Copa and Cogeca have launched their Manifesto for the European elections during their general meeting and in the presence of representatives from all leading European political groups, as the two organizations announce in a press release.

Drawn from the lessons of the 2019-2024 mandate and aimed at regaining a strategic vision for EU agriculture, the manifesto outlines seven key priorities for the next European Commission mandate, accompanied by four essential factors for putting agriculture back on track.

"Agriculture has always been a cornerstone of the European project, playing a strategic role in the economy and ensuring food autonomy for the EU. However, as challenges mount for the agricultural sector, it is essential to focus on rural areas and agriculture to regain the EU's agricultural compass.

The recent increase in agricultural protests underscores the urgency of this issue, highlighting the need for the European Union to prioritize rural areas and agriculture on its policy agenda," said Lennart Nilsson, President of Copa-Cogeca, while presenting the manifesto.

The document presented enumerates the numerous challenges facing agriculture during the 2024-2029 mandate period, showing the need for the EU to set priorities for preparing agriculture for 2030. Copa and Cogeca have established seven major priorities in their manifesto, as well as a series of concrete policy proposals, which will be presented in more detail during the European election campaign.

In addition to the key priorities, the document identifies four supportive policy factors from the EU, based on the main lessons learned from the current mandate. Copa and Cogeca call for a real review of the agricultural budget to align environmental, geopolitical, and financial ambitions.

This should only be achievable following an assessment of the overall impact of current agricultural policies at the beginning of the next mandate, as well as feasibility studies on new proposals.

European agricultural organizations also emphasize the increasing need for coherence between the EU's trade policy and its ambitions for the internal market. Finally, from an institutional perspective, Copa and Cogeca present two strong requests: a European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Areas with the role of Vice President and a consolidation of strategic dialogue groups as a long-term strategic dialogue tool for the Commission.

"In the 2019-2024 mandate, we had to face a regulatory tsunami in agricultural matters with policies stemming from the Green Deal. In the next mandate, we want fewer regulations, but better ones, with a less top-down approach, adequately funded and focusing on on-the-ground implementation.

We know this is possible, we see it today with strategic dialogue. We remain convinced Europeans and call on all voters in rural areas to mobilize for these elections!" said Christiane Lambert, President of Copa, in her conclusion.