5 lessons from Christophe Hansen’s farm chief hearing – POLITICO

“This is a huge bonus for our European farmers” in terms of increased exports to Mercosur countries Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia, Hansen said.

Ukraine is the ‘elephant in the room’

The prospect of Ukraine and its vast agricultural sector joining the EU is making European farmers nervous, Hansen said. “So this needs to be well prepared… the solidarity that the community has with Ukraine is not something we should take for granted… We don’t have to suffer losses to our agricultural sector because another country or countries join.”

Are farmers’ fears justified? Hansen, who has a farming background, alluded to his brother’s experiences as a farmer during the 2004 EU enlargement, when countries such as Poland and Hungary joined the bloc: “I remember in 2004 my brother was really was when certain new member states joined the European Union because he too feared a price crisis for his crops. Was it true now? Ultimately, I’m not sure, I won’t judge, but in the end we found solutions.”

As for the upcoming revision of the EU-Ukraine Free Trade AgreementHansen said it is crucial to “learn lessons” from the emergency trade measures taken in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has frozen tariffs on all Kiev exports.

Yes, we need to reduce livestock emissions – but not ‘blunt cuts’

Hansen nimbly walked the cattle wire. He acknowledges that these animals are responsible for 85 percent of agricultural emissions in the EU and that “we need to do more work here”.

However, he also raised a number of ‘buts’. Firstly, agriculture is only responsible for 11 percent of total EU emissions, so let’s not blow the problem out of proportion. Secondly, the herds are already in decline: his brother died last year and no one has bought his animals yet.