Activities of Sara MATTHIEU related to 2020/2260(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on a Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system
Amendments (18)
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that EU trade policy hascan play a major role to play in the transition towards more sustainable agri-food systems, in line with the Paris Agreement and the European Green Deal; expects the ongoing Trade Policy Review to give the highest priority to anchoring EU trade policy into the European Green Deal Objectives;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Notes with concern that research continues to affirm a worrying link between zoonotic diseases, such as COVID-19, and deforestation, climate change and biodiversity loss; Notes also with concern that commercial export- oriented agriculture remains a major driver of global deforestation; underlines the importance of measures ensuring that demand is in line with sustainability goals, as the EU is a significant importer of commodities associated with deforestation, such as soy, palm oil, eucalyptus, rubber, maize, beef, leather and cocoa;
Amendment 18 #
1b. Regrets that the strategy does not address the potential inconsistencies between its goals and the trade agreements currently negotiated by the EU; proposes that the Commission takes the objectives of its farm to fork strategy as a reference in its ongoing and future trade negotiations in order to ensure that wellbeing of people and the natural environment is secured;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Notes that the EU internal market is the world’s biggest importer and exporter of agri-food products; is convinced that the EU should use this position to set the benchmark in terms of standards for sustainable food systems, based on the precautionary principle, environmental protection and animal welfare as well as respect of labour rights; further considers that protection of standards in these areas should be enshrined throughout trade agreement provisions and should not be considered as a technical barrier to trade;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Believes that sustainable production, including a phase out of chemical pesticides, should become a key characteristic of EU agri-food products, expanding the concept of quality to social and environmental aspects;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 – point a (new)
Paragraph 3 – point a (new)
(a) Welcomes the Commission’s commitment to promote the global phase- out of pesticides no longer approved in the EU and its commitment to ensure that hazardous pesticides banned for use in the EU are not exported outside the EU; urges the Commission to present a legislative proposal to that end as soon as possible; welcomes the Commission’s announcement to review import tolerances for substances meeting the „cut-off-criteria“, and urges the Commission to implement a zero- tolerance policy towards residues of those substances; encourages the Commission to also require that standards are applied that prevent contamination of workers and residents from pesticide use;
Amendment 71 #
4. Calls on the Commission to pursue the objectives of the Farm to Fork Strategy through the development of Green Alliances in all relevant forums, including the UN Food Systems Summit 2021; considers that EU should seek to ensure that the 2021 Summit builds on the voices of smallholder women food producers and family farming; equally considers that EU should reconfirm the mandate of the Committee on World Food Security as the foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental policy platform on food security and nutrition;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. EWelcomes the ambition of the Farm to Fork Strategy to ensure ambitious and fully enforceable sustainable development chapters in all EU bilateral trade agreements; emphasises the importance of strengthening enforceableility of Trade and Sustainable Development chapters in trade agreements to promote biodiversity, animal welfare, raise labour standards, foster more sustainable agri-food production and stop EU-driven global deforestation; points out that the enforceability of the trade and sustainable development chapters could be significantly improved through various enforcement methods, including a sanctions-based mechanism as a last resort; calls for “trade and sustainable development” chapters to include roadmaps with milestones subject to ex- post Sustainability Impact Assessments and that the lowering of (non)tariff barriers be made conditional thereon; expects the Chief Trade Enforcement Officer to fully play its role in strengthening enforcement of TSD chapters, in particular by ensuring appropriate follow up of civil society complaints regarding human rights, environmental concerns and animal welfare concerns; urges support for developing countries to promote food security and alignment with European standards for sustainability;
Amendment 101 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – point a (new)
Paragraph 5 – point a (new)
(a) Notes that Trade and Sustainable Development chapters do not address the potential negative impacts of Trade agreements on land use change, deforestation or climate change; considers that European and international environmental, safety, animal welfare and social standards should apply comprehensively in all chapters in trade agreements, in order to preclude any other trade provisions from undermining these standards;
Amendment 103 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Is convinced that legislation for mandatory EU-level horizontal due diligence throughout the supply chain for EU and foreign companies operating within the single market is necessary to achieve the SDGs, to promote good governance, to increase traceability and accountability in global supply chains;
Amendment 107 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Calls for better traceability of ingredients and products within the whole food chain, which would help to combat fraud and prevent contaminated products from reaching consumers; calls for greater attention to controls on imported goods from third countries and their compliance with EU standards on food and feed safety;
Amendment 109 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5c. Notes the ambition of the farm to fork strategy that imported products must continue to comply with relevant EU regulations and standards; notes that EU rules currently do not apply to all imported goods; asks the Commission to raise the ambition by ensuring that products imported to the EU fully meet relevant EU regulations and standards, in particular in the field of animal welfare, the use of pesticides and the fight against antimicrobial resistance; stresses the importance to provide development assistance and support primary producers from developing countries to meet those standards when they export to Europe; calls for a monitoring method that ensures compliance;
Amendment 111 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
5d. Recalls its demands to the Commission on the EU legal framework to halt and reverse EU-driven global deforestation, in particular its call to develop strong legislation on forest risk commodities such as soy, palm oil, rubber, maize, beef, leather and cocoa; Asks that the F2F strategy ensures that all products placed on the EU market are free from deforestation and human rights violations; insists that no trade agreement leading to deforestation should be negotiated by the Commission; stresses the importance of the EU in supporting policies that promote community-based forest management and equitable access of small forest holders to local, regional and global markets;
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses theNotes the potential risk of putting the EU agri-food sector at a competitive disadvantage in the absence of global convergence of standards, and of leading to increased costs for consumers; calls on the Commission to present a comprehensive impact assessment of the targets envisaged in the Strategy, as well as proportionate measures to maintain the competitiveness of the EU agri-food sector and ensure reciprocity of standards; recalls that impact assessments are an integral part of EU rule making process and that economic effects are taken into account;
Amendment 149 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the proposed new initiative on climate and trade at the WTO and urges the Commission to continue to develop an ambitious, WTO-compatible sustainable trade policy. considers that some of the current WTO rules are an obstacle to the fostering of the ecological transition; underlines that unfair competition from third countries with lower environmental and social standards is a major hindrance to farmers’ acceptance of new ecological measures; calls on the Commission to engage proactively in reforming WTO rules with a view to ensure trade policy coherence with the SDGs;
Amendment 151 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Supports international cooperation on food research and innovation in important areas such as climate change adaptation and mitigation, agro-ecology, sustainable landscape management and land governance, resilience, inclusive and fair value chains, and prevention of and response to food crises; emphasises in particular the need for more research and transfer of knowledge on agroecological practices and territorial markets for agroecological products in parallel with public policies supporting the agroecological transition; recommends that cooperation should also focus on smallholder farmers and small-scale food producers, as these would benefit most from such cooperation;
Amendment 158 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Welcomes the zero tolerance approach in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing; recalls that traceability of supply chains is key to be successful in this fight; underlines that seafood traceability benefits EU consumers as well as third countries;
Amendment 160 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7c. Recommends that trade agreements only grant further trade preferences for animal-based products upon the condition that they respect all EU relevant animal welfare standards, including standards currently not applied to imported products; stresses the need to allocate sufficient resources to the implementation of provisions on animal welfare cooperation and to always include strong and enforceable animal welfare provisions in trade agreements.