In today's NAT (Natural Resources) Commission meeting, members voted on a draft opinion outlining the European Committee of the Regions' key messages on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The ECR Group's key messages included a call for any future climate-, agricultural-, or food-related proposals to not promote lab-grown products in order to safeguard the cultural heritage of the Member States and protect traditionally prepared food. Our Group would have liked the amendment to be even more ambitious and include plant-based alternatives and novel protein sources such as microbes and insects, but the success of NAT members unanimously calling against lab-grown food is a reflection on the necessity to safeguard the livelihoods of farming communities.

A controversial amendment that successfully passed was the call for a comprehensive impact assessment that the implementation of the Green Deal will have on agriculture and on food security that addresses the concerns of the farming community. For the ECR Group, the Green Deal lacked assessment and was a top-down initiative. We demand that all policies related to the agricultural sector should be accompanied by feasibility studies.

Other key amendments included the reference to agriculture often being seen as an undesirable profession and that the challenges facing rural areas make this problem even more challenging. We highlighted that the establishment of young people in rural areas with access to services and leisure and employment opportunities is key to preserving agriculture across the EU. One of the main objectives of the CAP should be its contribution to food security across the world and in maintaining the external and internal competitiveness of the EU's farmers and agri-food sector – another amendment favourably voted.

Amongst others were calls for further reflection on how to support the viticulture sector considering the difficulties Europe's wine-growers are facing and regret that the strategic dialogues on the future of EU agriculture launched by the European Commission do not include any local or regional authorities.

Our members also discussed with Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski the recent legislative proposals put forward by the European Commission, which demonstrate that the European Commission is starting to listen to our farmers.

The ECR Group is very pleased to see that several of the CAP’s green measures are being made voluntary, including requirements that farmers set aside some of their land for biodiversity and rotate crops to prevent nutrient loss.