Sidl and Feichtinger criticize EU reaction to farmers' protests – proposed 'red tape' leads to worsening conditions for agricultural workers
Vienna (OTS/SK) – At today's Council of Agriculture Ministers in Brussels, how to deal with farmers' protests will also be discussed. The Belgian presidency of the Council wants to discuss a proposal to “reduce bureaucracy”, which, however, also accepts negative consequences for agricultural workers and harvest workers. Specifically, the agreed link between compliance with social law standards and receipt of agricultural subsidies is expected to come into effect later. “During the negotiations on the Common Agricultural Policy, we managed, for the first time, to link the social issue to the EU's largest budget fund. This cannot be questioned now. Anyone who employs people illegally should not have a competitive advantage,” explains SPÖ MEP Günther Sidl, who helped negotiate the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the European Social Democrats. According to Sidl, the proposal now presented is just a quick shot by the conservatives to calm farmers' protests before the EU elections: “To solve the existing problems in agriculture, a sustainable change of direction is necessary. In order to reassure farmers in the short term, before the EU elections, agricultural workers and harvest workers must not become victims of farmers!” ****
Criticism of this current discussion in the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers also comes from the SPÖ agriculture spokeswoman Elisabeth Feichtinger: “There must be no deterioration under the pretext of 'reducing bureaucracy'”, criticizes Feichtinger and adds: ” There are many problems in agriculture that need to be addressed urgently “This includes reducing the use of pesticides and cheap imports contaminated with pesticides, as well as fairer distribution of funding for sustainable management. However, linking compliance with social standards to the payment of agricultural subsidies is certainly not one of them.” (Final) ts/ls
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