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Tanks gegen Traktoren? MEPs streiten in The Ring über EU-Schutz für Bauern
Harte Gespräche über den nächsten EU‑Haushalt, Kyjiws EU‑Kurs und explodierende Düngerkosten rücken Europas Bauern in den Fokus. Kann die EU sie noch zufriedenstellen, obwohl sie stärker auf Verteidigung und Handel setzt? Die Debatte läuft in „The Ring“.
LESEN SIE MEHR : http://de.euronews.com/2026/07/14/tanks-gegen-traktoren-meps-streiten-in-the-ring-uber-eu-schutz-fur-bauern
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Harte Gespräche über den nächsten EU‑Haushalt, Kyjiws EU‑Kurs und explodierende Düngerkosten rücken Europas Bauern in den Fokus. Kann die EU sie noch zufriedenstellen, obwohl sie stärker auf Verteidigung und Handel setzt? Die Debatte läuft in „The Ring“.
LESEN SIE MEHR : http://de.euronews.com/2026/07/14/tanks-gegen-traktoren-meps-streiten-in-the-ring-uber-eu-schutz-fur-bauern
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NewsTranskript
00:07Hallo und willkommen zu The Ring, Euronews' weekly debatet show,
00:13broadcasted this week from the European Parliament here in Strasbourg.
00:17I'm your host, Maret Gwynne.
00:19Every week, two members of the European Parliament step into The Ring
00:23to debate some of the most pressing issues facing the European Union.
00:27This week, we're putting the spotlight once again on European farmers
00:32and asking whether their discontent risks flaring up once again.
00:38Luis Albertos has more.
00:40For two years, farmers' anger has been spilling onto European streets.
00:45Their grievances, high operational costs, stringent environmental rules and fierce foreign competition.
00:53Under pressure, Brussels made major concessions,
00:56relaxing green farming obligations, ditching plant pesticide cuts and providing financial relief.
01:02But can farmers continue to count on political protection?
01:07European governments are now battling to protect the EU's flagship agricultural funds,
01:11known as the Common Agricultural Policy,
01:14from the proposed budget cuts of European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen.
01:19Skyrocketing fertilizer costs due to the Hormuz trade disruptions,
01:23a raft of free trade deals and persistent heatwaves are also adding fuel to fire.
01:29Can Europe continue to put farmers at the center of their political agenda?
01:33Or will competing demands from defense spending to enlargement force the EU to make difficult choices?
01:42Plenty there for our contenders to get their teeth into.
01:46Let's meet them.
01:48Kieran Muloli, an Irish MEP from the Liberal Renew Europe Group.
01:52He's a vice chair of the Special Committee on Housing and a member of the Committees on Regional Development and
01:56Agriculture and Rural Development.
01:58Before becoming an MEP, he worked as a journalist for over three decades.
02:02Regarding the EU long-term budget, he said,
02:05the Common Agricultural Policy must have a dedicated and robust budget of 433 billion euros, at least at current prices.
02:12CAP cannot be treated as a leftover or absorbed into national envelopes.
02:17Taka Toveri, a Finnish MEP from the Central-Right European People's Party.
02:21A retired general of the Finnish Defense Forces,
02:23he serves in the Committees on Security and Defense and Agriculture and Rural Development.
02:27He says, the next MFF is requiring difficult choices.
02:31As more resources are needed towards new priorities such as security and defense,
02:35the next CAP needs to make every euro count by providing effective, well-targeted support for our farmers
02:40and strengthening Europe's food security.
02:45Kieran Muloli and Pekki Toveri, welcome.
02:48Thank you so much for being with us.
02:49Great to have you.
02:50Very, very relevant topic.
02:52Farmers back in the political spotlight.
02:55Let me start with you, Kieran Muloli.
02:58Tough negotiations happening now on the EU's next long-term budget.
03:02Will farmers' subsidies be protected?
03:06I hope they will.
03:07I think that's the first issue, and I think Nneka probably will agree with me,
03:10that we need to put food security very high on our agenda.
03:13I get a sense already, as the Irish presidency starts,
03:16that there is an agreement across the board among the member states
03:19that food security is still very important.
03:21So I really hope they will.
03:23It will be a question of how we balance the books on this issue.
03:25Where will the deficit come from?
03:27Because farmers cannot cope with a loss of 20% to 24% in their subsidies.
03:32Yet the EU is facing multiple challenges.
03:35You come from Finland, Mr. Toveri, sharing the longest land border in the EU with Russia.
03:40We know about the defence and security threats.
03:43We know about the budget needed to fund those defence needs.
03:47Is it inevitable now that farmers may face cuts as the EU tries to address this threat?
03:53Well, first of all, I have to say that, you know, I'm coming from Finland,
03:55which 1866 to 1868 was one of the last Western European countries with big famine.
04:00Eight percent of the population died because of famine.
04:03So we understand about food security and the importance of agriculture.
04:07But on the other hand, we also know the threat of Russia,
04:10and which is not only the eastern border countries, but the whole Europe.
04:14And therefore, we need to be stronger in security and defence,
04:17and that means everybody have to bid in also agriculture.
04:20And the most important thing is not how much you throw in money, but how you use the money.
04:25You mentioned that member states seem intent on protecting farmers,
04:29but the Commission Chief, Ursula von der Leyen, did propose a major cut.
04:33So does she really have farmers' interests at heart, would you say?
04:37Well, I think the difficulty is not just the CAP programme,
04:40but it's the policy of trade deals, which Ursula von der Leyen has also pursued in Europe.
04:45You will know I'm bitterly opposed to the Mercosur trade deal.
04:48Not of where it is now, because I think we're getting control on their standards,
04:52but where it could go in terms of replacing Irish farmers and French farmers,
04:56and Finnish farmers, for that matter, in the markets going down the line.
04:58So it's a combination, really, of what I believe is an excessive rush
05:02to sign up trade deals alongside the CAP package at the moment.
05:06But let's be straight about this.
05:07If it goes ahead, there are significant implications.
05:09If you look at the actual cut that's proposed at the moment,
05:12in terms of what it would do, it would reduce effectively the livestock herd in Europe.
05:17We've looked at the figures that Joristat have given us over the last number of days.
05:20Based on the present MFF budget projection,
05:23we could be looking at a loss in the region of millions of cattle going down the line.
05:28And when you look at each country, including Finland, there is an important issue here.
05:32Food production is surely our first priority.
05:35If we have a 24% cut, it could take the food literally out of 23 million people's mouth
05:41over the course of seven years.
05:43Now, nobody wants that.
05:44Indeed.
05:44I want to pick up on what you said about the Mercosur, a free trade deal.
05:48We know that your party, the EPP, has been championing this agenda
05:52of striking various trade deals with different parts of the world.
05:55But is it an existential threat now to farmers, would you say?
05:59I don't agree.
06:00You have to remember, true to my background, I'm a big picture guy.
06:05Farming is very important for Europe, but from the EU's economy, it's 1.2%.
06:10Still, we use about 30% of our budget to support farming.
06:13Where that money comes?
06:14It comes from the 98.8% of other trade and industry, which is providing that money.
06:20Mercosur was 94% of anything else but agriculture.
06:24Only 6% was agriculture, and it also opened markets for European agriculture to South America.
06:29So I think that we need these kind of deals because we are challenged not only by Russia and China,
06:33but the United States too.
06:35So the pros of Mercosur outweighs the cons, Toveri says.
06:39I think the main issue with Irish farmers and, indeed, Finnish farmers have Mercosur
06:41was the lack of equivalence.
06:43We're looking at two member states producing food on a different system in Brazil
06:48without the standards, without the testing, without the audits.
06:51We found that out.
06:52That's why they're no longer on the safe food list in Europe at the moment.
06:56I want to pick up on how this debate has become so politicized.
07:01Would you say that this debate has become too politicized
07:04and that we're losing sight of the real concrete concerns of farmers on the ground, including in Finland?
07:10Well, we saw what happened in Mercosur voting.
07:13In EPP, all the French and Polish maps voted against it.
07:17All the French maps in all the parties voted against it,
07:21even though all the studies show that Mercosur is good for economy of France.
07:25Why? Because there's elections coming and nobody wants to give any room for any populist party bringing in the farmers'
07:33votes.
07:33So the strategic picture, the big picture is thrown away because of narrow national political issues.
07:41The big issue here is that Europe hasn't prepared for decades properly the world we are living in.
07:47The energy prices are crazy because we are still depending on the fossil fuels.
07:51The fertilizer prices are crazy because we are depending either from the dictatorships or fertilizers coming from an area which
08:01has always been volatile and full of crises.
08:04So we have to prepare and make sure that the whole chain, food production chain, is protected and the prices
08:13are adequate so that the farmers can make a living out of it.
08:16But when we talk about food security, EPP Maloli, do you think it's fair to say that European consumers might
08:23need to be prepared to pay more in order to ensure food security, local produce and so on?
08:29Well, I think firstly, if Europe does not support the industry to the manner it should do, they will have
08:34to pay more.
08:35That's a fact. But I think the important issue here is to remember where we've come from.
08:38You know, it is a cliche, I know, and it's often used that Europe is now going for tanks instead
08:43of tractors.
08:43This is thrown out. But you've got to look behind that phrase at the historic background to this.
08:48When we joined the European Union back in 1973, agriculture was the reason we came in.
08:52It was nothing to do with defense. At that point in time, 72% of the European budget was spent
08:57on agriculture.
08:58It's now down to 20, 25%. And while I understand, and there's a balance to be hit here, I understand
09:04the world has changed.
09:05The geopolitical events have happened. And we do need to be very careful in terms of defense.
09:09We play our part as peacekeepers in the world as well, remember.
09:12But also remember, we feel the pendulum has swung too far, that at the end of the day, food security
09:17is important.
09:18When the COVID hit, farmers continued to produce.
09:22When the Ukraine conflict began, farmers continued to produce.
09:25So why should we pick on that industry now? And not just the defense budget, but other budgets.
09:30I'm not just picking out defense, by the way.
09:32I think the competitiveness budget needs to be defined a little bit more.
09:35We see exactly where that's going to go before we take it away from agriculture.
09:39Would you agree that the EU is perhaps losing sight of its original purpose, which is to serve farmers, for
09:44example?
09:44Well, as my dear colleague said, we are living in a different world than it was in the 1970s.
09:51And if we don't change how we operate as an EU, we will lose.
09:55And then nobody is happy, not farmers, not the industrial workers, not anybody.
10:01So we have to make things differently.
10:03Exactly. And my experience for my previous life is that seeing a problem and throwing a lot of money to
10:09it normally doesn't work.
10:10You have to think very carefully what you do money and the money have to be used so that you
10:14get the results, what you want from that money.
10:16In this case, we have to secure, for example, young farmers, because being a farmer is a dying trade in
10:24Europe.
10:24And we have to stop by making it lucrative for young people to start farming so that they can be
10:30living out of it.
10:31Which is why, Pekka, we probably should invest more now in generational renewal.
10:35So let's up the farming budget, put in money to let farmers retire and bring in young farmers.
10:40So you want to bring it down or others want to bring it down, perhaps, at the present.
10:43Von der Leyen certainly wants to bring it down.
10:44So why not invest with me in generational renewal?
10:46Well, in APP, we want to use a bigger part of the cap money for young farmers because of that's
10:52the reason.
10:52Okay, I'm sure we can pick up on that issue of young farmers, hopefully, later in the show.
10:57But let me stop you there for now.
10:58I see you're getting warmed up, but it's time for us to move on to the next round and to
11:04take the gloves off.
11:08In this round, we gave you both the opportunity to directly challenge each other.
11:13I know you've come prepared with questions today.
11:16Okay, so let's start with you, Pekka Toveri, your first question to Kieran Maloli.
11:23So we both agree that Europe must do more for our farmers.
11:27With growing spending needs for other priorities such as security,
11:31which EU priorities would you cut to restore the cap budget or would you grow the EU membership fees?
11:37Yeah, so straight away, I think I've just touched on it.
11:39Competitiveness is a new budget, and it's important.
11:41I read the Mario Draghi report like everybody else, but it's $450 billion.
11:45It's an awful lot of money.
11:46And at the moment, in my mind, it's not defined clearly where it's going to go.
11:50So I would look at that firstly.
11:51That's the first area I would hit on.
11:53Remember what's happened in defence and space in that area.
11:55We've gone from where we were spending just $14 billion up to where we are now, over $70 billion.
12:00I mean, do we need to go that far?
12:02That's the question I ask.
12:03Is the race to space more important than the race to have food on the tables in Finland and in
12:08Ireland?
12:08I don't think it is.
12:09So those are the key areas I would look more closer at in terms of determining where the budget deficit
12:13would come from.
12:14Okay.
12:15Kieran Maloli, your first question to your opponent's peccatability.
12:17Yeah, I mean, I suppose you have consistently argued that Europe should invest.
12:21Now, I respect that.
12:22I also respect the work you've done as a former general and your own professional career.
12:26But I suppose I would argue that when one looks around Europe, and even at Finland,
12:30where, you know, in recent years you've seen an issue of deprivation among children,
12:34where up to 10%, I believe, of children in Finland have come up to a point where they're suffering from
12:38deprivation,
12:39that's food on the table.
12:41So what I would argue to you is that your domestic agenda should be seen on a par with any
12:46concerns about defence.
12:48And particularly, I would argue that food security is national security at the end of the day.
12:53Well, I have to say that I agree totally.
12:56You know, we can, in time of crisis, we can live about max three days without water,
13:02a couple of weeks without food, without electricity, much longer.
13:05So, yes, food security is very important for our security, and we have to safeguard that.
13:11And, again, the money has to go to the right places.
13:13And it's not only, we have to remember that this house is for legislation.
13:17You don't always have to throw money on the problems.
13:20You can also make legislation to improve the condition of the farming,
13:25and make it easier, less bureaucracy, less restrictions for the farmers,
13:30so that they can concentrate what they are doing the best, bringing food to table.
13:34Your second question now to MVP, Kieran Maloldi.
13:36So, the real crisis is not only funding, it is that young people are living farming, as we discussed already.
13:42If you had to choose, would you prioritise supporting existing farms or bringing a new generation into agriculture?
13:48A very good question, and I think we've touched on it already in this debate.
13:52They are equally important, but I suppose, look at the average age across Europe.
13:54We have a major problem on the upper end.
13:56So, we have farmers up at 57, 58 years of age.
13:59The average in Europe at the moment, it's far too high.
14:02The industry, I think, ultimately is doomed.
14:04So, my first priority would be to deal with that issue with strong investment supports.
14:10Firstly, to let farmers get out.
14:12So, a package, a retirement package for farmers to leave.
14:15That would be my first priority.
14:16And then, secondly, a package, particularly in Ireland, where we have a lot of young farmers coming in
14:19who need to get investment for new machinery, to buy land, to get a first step on the ladder.
14:24We've traditionally had a problem in land being handed over to the next generation.
14:28But I think if the funding is available, and Commissioner Christophe says that we're on a regular basis,
14:34that he is going to prioritize it.
14:37I would like to see investment in that generation renewal going right up to 10% in the next package.
14:42Okay.
14:43Kieran Mulally, your final question.
14:45Yeah, I suppose, in general, you know, Europe has managed to increase the defense expenditure dramatically.
14:50So, I can understand, and I can understand why.
14:52I'm not blind to what's going on in Europe.
14:54But why can't Europe also maintain, I think, a properly funded common agricultural policy at the end of the day?
15:00In other words, do you think, Pekka, within, say, the Council of Ministers, when the ministers meet,
15:04is it a lack of understanding of agriculture, or is it perhaps a lack of a will to contribute
15:12to farming ahead, as I say, of pressing defense issues at the moment?
15:17Well, I think that the big challenge is that we are working too much on the silos,
15:22that we don't look at this as a broad problem as it is.
15:26Farming is much more than just cap.
15:29We have to take care of the regulation and other actions so that, as I mentioned before,
15:36that we have affordable energy for farmers, we have affordable fertilizers for the farmers, etc.
15:44And when we look at the defense, well, the fact is that the major burden on the defense is on
15:50the member states, of course.
15:51They are paying the biggest bill.
15:54But, again, it would be good to have a proper analysis and wide view on so that we do this
16:02strategically.
16:03You know, creating environment for farming in 10 years' time, in 20 years' time,
16:08is also functioning the same when we are building our defense capabilities.
16:12Same thing.
16:13If you don't have a good plan, how are you going to use the money?
16:16And it's the same in the defense industry.
16:18There's a lot of things we can do without throwing money in the defense industry
16:21by just taking down the regulations and our legislative restrictions we have.
16:28And there the biggest problem is the member states.
16:31Because, again, the narrow national political interests come to play.
16:36And there's always somebody out of 27 who said that,
16:39well, we can't allow this and this legislation to change because of the national interests.
16:44Well, would you agree with Donald Tusk who was asked about this question?
16:46He said, it's always the big countries or the scrooges when this happens.
16:50They want to go back and raid the European budget and shrink it
16:53instead of dealing with their responsibilities as the larger member states.
16:56Well, yes, I agree.
16:59Coming from a small country, I can see that we see the big picture in Finland
17:03much better than Germans or friends have.
17:06We've heard plenty from our two contenders now,
17:08but it's time to bring in a new voice.
17:15I'd like to pivot now to consider the impact of climate change on European farming communities
17:20and bring in Teresa Ribeira, the European Commission Vice President
17:24for a clean, just and competitive transition.
17:27In an interview with The Guardian last week,
17:29she was asked about the recent heat waves that have struck many parts of Europe, of course.
17:33She said, I am tired of hearing people don't back the Green Deal anymore.
17:38It's not true.
17:39People prefer to ensure fresh water that is not polluted,
17:43breathe clean air or count on a healthy ecosystem
17:47than having polluted water or no capacity to ensure crops and harvests.
17:53There is still this fierce fight against facts, science, preparedness and investment.
17:58We need to reject this kind of BS, she said,
18:01based on lies and against people's interests.
18:04Is she right?
18:06Has the Green Deal now been demonized?
18:08And I will press you here.
18:09Have farmers played a role in that?
18:11I think farmers have played a key role in this.
18:13I totally reject what the Commissioner says, by the way.
18:15The facts are that farmers have been the custodians of the environment for generations.
18:20I mean, if you just deal with this in terms of common sense,
18:22what the Commissioner says in terms of water quality,
18:24it's not in the interest of a farmer to have polluted water in the river at the end of his
18:28farm,
18:29thereby causing a threat to his own animals.
18:30It threatens his own industry.
18:32And for generations, my family and others have defended the environment.
18:35We've played our part in the environmental schemes.
18:37The issue for us is that when we're spending more on the environmental schemes
18:41than we're spending on basic food production and generational renewal,
18:44that's when it becomes a problem.
18:45Would you agree?
18:46Have farmers been targeted too much in this debate around the Green Deal?
18:50Yeah, I do agree.
18:52I do agree.
18:52You know, at least in Finland, where the farm sizes are much smaller than in Central Europe, for example,
18:59you know, they have lived there for centuries.
19:02They know the nature.
19:03Finns love the nature.
19:04They want to protect.
19:05They don't want to destroy anything just for farming.
19:10And we have a lot of problems.
19:12And we have to remember that one size doesn't fit all.
19:14You know, when you look at the solution, because Finland is an Arctic country,
19:17totally different place to farming than in southern Spain, for example.
19:21And we have a lot of areas where you have two centimeters of product with soil left
19:27because the quality of the farmland has gone down.
19:30So we have to look at the science to find the solution.
19:34And one solution, in my opinion, is not to go these big, giant, industrial farms
19:39with thousands of hectares because those companies don't care so much about the environment.
19:43Interesting point of agreement there.
19:45But it's time now for me to take us to a break here on the Ring.
19:50But we'll be back with more after this.
19:52Stay with us.
20:01Welcome back to The Ring, Euronews' weekly debate show.
20:05I'm Marit Gwynn, and I'm joined today by Kieran Maloli from the Centrist Renew Europe Group
20:09and Pekka Toveri from the European People's Party.
20:12Today, our topic is European farmers and the multiple challenges they face.
20:17Now, there is increasing political momentum now behind efforts to accept new members into the European Union.
20:24But what impact would this have on farming subsidies?
20:28Well, there are a few theories about how the EU's common agricultural policy
20:32could adapt to accommodate new members such as Ukraine.
20:36Let's take a closer look at some of them.
20:38So, these are three theories floating around.
20:41The first is that we could have an increased budget for farmers,
20:44costing the EU between 7.6 and 13.4 billion euros more per year.
20:50Secondly, we could see the eligibility criteria tightening a bit,
20:54meaning some farmers, notably in Western Europe,
20:57could see cuts to the current levels of subsidies they receive.
21:01And third, a potential reduce per hectare payment,
21:06meaning all farmers receiving equally less,
21:09but which could hit heavily dependent Baltic and Eastern European states hardest.
21:15So, a very sensitive and political debate here.
21:18But first, you, Kieran Maloli.
21:21Ukraine joining the EU, is this good or bad news for farmers?
21:25Well, let me say firstly, I represent the farmers in Ireland.
21:27So, I'm opposed full stop to reduction in our subsidies or in our single farm payments.
21:32That doesn't mean I don't understand the invitation to Ukraine to come on board.
21:37That doesn't mean I don't understand the contribution the farmers can make to Europe.
21:41But we have to remember that in full production,
21:44the output from Ukraine would master both France and Italy put together in a new year.
21:49So, clearly, the first option is going to have to come into play.
21:52They're going to have to look at the budget.
21:53The Irish presidency has already discussed this.
21:55They're going to look at it in the early stages.
21:58We've got to start now.
21:59I think we're some distance away from Ukraine actually coming to that point.
22:03If it happens, they have a lot of issues to resolve in their own country,
22:06aside from the Russian conflict.
22:08But, clearly, the budget is going to have to be re-looked at.
22:10And it cannot mean a reduction of subsidies for farmers in Western Europe.
22:14But, yeah, we've just discussed about how it's very difficult now to increase any budget
22:18because money is scarce.
22:20But what about this idea, Pekatoviti, of Ukraine potentially joining as a member,
22:25but as a first stage not getting access to any cap funding, to any farm subsidies?
22:30Would that be fair for Ukraine?
22:32I don't think it's fair.
22:33But, on the other hand, we have to see that Ukraine is a unique country.
22:40And we have to find a unique solution for it.
22:42I'm the chair of the Ukraine delegation here in the EU Parliament.
22:45I have met them a lot.
22:47We have discussed with the Ukrainian farmers a lot.
22:50And they always remind that they don't want to be the ones who block Ukraine's possible EU membership.
22:59And they also point out that before the Russian attack,
23:02over 90 percent of Ukraine's farming production, agricultural production, went outside Europe.
23:08And they want to continue that.
23:11And then when we look at the size, you know, already the cap has,
23:15the suggestion for the cap has limits on how, you know, on the size of the farms,
23:20that bigger farms don't get any support.
23:22In Finland, the medium, the small to medium farms are around 80 hectares.
23:27In Ukraine, there are 2,000 hectares.
23:30It's a totally different thing.
23:31We can't use our own rules, current rules on Ukraine.
23:37But any solution, I guess, cannot discriminate against Ukrainian farmers.
23:42And it means that if there's no agreement on increasing the budget, then everyone could see cuts.
23:47You're saying that that would be politically untenable?
23:49I think it would be untenable at such a time as we have standards in Ukraine.
23:53That's the first issue.
23:54Now, more than Mercosur countries, we know nothing about their production standards.
23:57They're auditing, they're testing, they're animal testing, they're animal welfare issues.
24:01At the moment, we certainly don't believe they're on European standards.
24:03That's the first issue you've got to resolve.
24:05So I believe it could be the way forward to come in without access to cap initially.
24:09That certainly is an option that the Irish presidency, I'm sure, could look at,
24:12and indeed in future years.
24:14But the bottom line here is, going forward, you know, we have voted,
24:17I voted against the Mercosur trade deal for one simple issue.
24:20Because of the issue Peck has mentioned, the scale of farming in Brazil is off the charts
24:23compared to the normal European farmer.
24:25Four and 5,000 hectares of land across thousands and thousands of miles.
24:30It's just not comparable.
24:32Therefore, we need a different system in terms of looking at how we support them.
24:36We're certainly not going to support them per hectare.
24:38Yet Ukraine, if I may, is being framed as a geopolitical necessity to integrate them into the EU.
24:45Do you fear that this issue of farming could be a major stumbling block?
24:49We can't allow it to be.
24:51It's a big challenge.
24:52But we had a big challenge when Poland joined the EU.
24:55And now they have increased their GDP for 16%.
24:58They are the military power of Eastern Europe, very important for our defense.
25:03When you talk about Ukraine, they had a good point the last time we talked with the Ukrainian farmers,
25:08that if they have to go immediately to the EU standards, that means 150 euros per hectare more production cost,
25:16which means that they can't compete in the global market anymore.
25:19And if we do that, if we demand that, then we have to substitute them as European farmers.
25:24Other solutions might be, OK, those companies which are importing outside, exporting outside Europe,
25:31maybe they can continue with the non-EU standards.
25:35And those who plan to import to Europe, they have to follow the standards.
25:39Well, that would suddenly be unprecedented for the EU.
25:42We'll see.
25:42Well, we have a living in different times.
25:44We have to find different solutions.
25:45Indeed. Indeed.
25:46Thank you so much.
25:48It's now time for us to move on to our fifth and final round.
25:55And in our last round, we do something a little different.
25:58I'm going to ask you a series of questions, and I require a one-word answer.
26:04Yes or no?
26:05Are you ready?
26:06Sure.
26:07We'll do our best.
26:08Let me start with you, Pekka Toveri.
26:09Should the EU maintain farmers' subsidies at the same level as previous years?
26:18Yes.
26:19Yes.
26:19And you?
26:20Yes, with the inflation added.
26:21OK.
26:22Should farmers do more to tackle climate change?
26:25I think farmers are doing, yes.
26:28Yes.
26:29Does Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission Chief, have farmers' interests at heart?
26:34Yes.
26:35No, I'm afraid.
26:36Is the Mercosur free trade deal an existential threat to European farmers?
26:41Absolutely, yes.
26:42No.
26:43Should consumers expect to pay more to support European farmers, to pay more in the supermarkets?
26:50No.
26:50Less production will mean higher prices, yes.
26:54Is Europe losing its food sovereignty?
26:57Yes, really, because of the trade deals.
27:00No.
27:01And finally, is the EU risking, at least, leaving farmers behind?
27:06Yes, is the problem.
27:08But that budget?
27:09No.
27:10OK.
27:10Very interesting.
27:11Many points of disagreement there at the end.
27:13But thank you so much to you both for a very lively debate here in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
27:19We hope to have you back on The Ring very soon.
27:22But that brings this edition to an end.
27:24Thank you again, Kieran Muloli.
27:26Thank you, Pekka Toveri.
27:27And of course, thank you to our audience at home.
27:30Remember, you can continue the conversation by sending us your feedback and comments to The Ring at Euronews.com.
27:37In the meantime, take care and stay with us here on Euronews.
27:48We'll see you next time.
27:50Euronews
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