Centre-right EPP group turn attention to agriculture ahead of EU elections

The issue has become a lightning rod for the right as next year's vote approaches.

Transcript

00:00 Agriculture is shaping up to be a key issue at the upcoming European elections.

00:06 On Tuesday, the center-right European People`s Party organized a conference in the European

00:10 Parliament on the subject.

00:12 But also for the first time during her State of the Union address, the president of the

00:15 European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, sent a direct message of thanks to Europe`s

00:19 farming community.

00:26 But MEPs are under no illusions about this recent change of tone.

00:30 Some argue that the only reason she`s now choosing to focus on the farming community

00:34 is a simple matter of politics.

00:36 And that politics boils down to her desire to be European Commission president for a

00:40 second term.

00:41 She is completely in an electoral process where she is trying to gather her political

00:47 family around her, in order to, I imagine, be able to make a second mandate to the presidency

00:52 of the Commission.

00:53 We have seen that the MEP, during her congress, almost two months ago, had put the agricultural

01:01 issue at the heart of this congress.

01:03 We have seen a strong offensive on the MEP`s congress on the agricultural issue.

01:10 According to some analysts, the agricultural world is welcoming the words of the European

01:14 Commission president.

01:16 After major crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the sector is in turmoil.

01:23 The sector directly employs just over 9 million people in the EU.

01:28 This issue goes beyond the sector.

01:30 The sensitivity for food, for agriculture and for rurality are elements that far exceed

01:38 the agricultural vote.

01:39 And we see in several countries that the messages carried by the agricultural world are messages

01:46 that have an echo far beyond and in the whole of society.

01:49 So, we see that today there is an agricultural debate that is obviously very strong in the

01:56 rural areas, but that also finds an echo in the urban areas.

01:59 And we have seen it in the Netherlands, but we also see it in Germany, in Italy and in

02:04 France.

02:05 To please these voters, the center-right European People`s Party has for several months been

02:09 striking blows at the EU`s Green Deal.

02:12 Many in the agriculture sector see it and the environmental policies it contains as

02:16 damaging their livelihoods or at least hitting them too hard and too fast.

02:21 Faced with this kind of volatility, the European People`s Party is now seeking to consolidate

02:26 its base before next year`s election.

02:28 [WHOOSH]