EU offers concessions to protesting farmers

Months of farmer-led protests in Europe look to have borne fruit, with the European Union vowing changes to relevant laws and policies.

The promise to review the EU's Common Agricultural Policy pledges an easing of rules for such things as how often farmed land must be left fallow, and how farmers should rotate crops to avoid nutrient depletion. The European Commission, the bloc's executive, also said on Friday farmers will be offered flexibility in adhering to rules, such as those that protect certain types of land, and that limit water pollution.

The commission said it wanted to "reduce the burden related to controls for EU farmers" and offer more "flexibility for complying with certain environmental conditionalities".

Ursula von der Leyen, the commission's president, said the EU was "taking strong and swift action to support our farmers in a time when they are dealing with numerous challenges and concerns".

"Today's proposals — crafted in close cooperation with farmers, key stakeholders, our member states, and MEPs (members of the European Parliament) — offer targeted flexibilities to help farmers do their vital work with greater confidence and certainty," Reuters quoted her as saying.

The promise to look at the bloc's rules, and especially those connected to its Green Deal to tackle climate change, followed disruptive protests by farmers who said they could not afford to comply with the legislation. The protests involved farmers using tractors to block roads and border crossings, to highlight their opposition to issues including limitations on pesticide use, and to the EU's acceptance of cheap, tariff-free imports from Ukraine.

The bloc had already pledged to curb imports from Ukraine and scrap its plan to cut pesticide use by 50 percent, but the new concessions call for farmers to get more financial support for doing things with an ecological benefit, such as leaving some land unfarmed, or for protecting hedgerows. They also call for farms that are smaller than 10 hectares to be exempt from most rules and penalties.

The bloc's 27 member nations and lawmakers in the European Parliament will now be asked for their ideas on how farmers can get more support. Agricultural ministers will discuss the proposed overhaul in Brussels, Belgium on March 26.

The EU's climb-down followed massive mobilizations in many major European cities that will have worried lawmakers in an election year.

But environmental groups criticized the apparent capitulation to farmers' demands that have been strongly championed by far-right candidates, with Green party MEP Thomas Waitz telling AP they will damage the fight against global warming.

"I would actually call it populism," he said. "Now, they try to deflect the anger of the local farmers and instrumentalize it against the Green Deal."