As of: February 29, 2024, 2:03 p.m
By: Stefan Schmid
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Germany suspends EU regulation on species protection.
A defeat across the board for the Green ministries.
The farmers' association is happy and demands.
Brussels/Berlin – The pressure on Cem Özdemir was great.
Until the last day, the Minister of Agriculture wanted to reach a compromise about abolishing the obligation to set aside agricultural land.
In the end, Özdemir and his Green party colleague Steffi Lemke were not even able to prevail with their interim solution - a victory for the German Farmers' Association and the FDP.
Özdemir and Lemke give in: Farmers do not have to keep areas free for species protection
On arable land in the European Union, four percent must be reserved for fallow land or other uncultivated agricultural elements.
That's actually what the GLÖZ 8 standard stipulates.
The EU Commission has issued an exception for the current year 2024.
The individual member states had to submit to the Commission by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday (February 29) whether they wanted to make use of the exemption.
The German Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture didn't take that long.
About twelve hours before the deadline, Özdemir reported to Brussels: Germany will implement the exception.
Farmers can use every last hectare of their agricultural land.
Instead of the previous four hectares of compulsory fallow land, they are now allowed to grow protein plants and catch crops there; pesticides are not permitted.
Steffi Lemke and Cem Özdemir fail with their compromise proposal on mandatory EU fallow land.
© IMAGO / photo library
Farmers' association cheers, conservationists are stunned
With the 1:1 acceptance of the EU exemption, Özdemir is meeting the demands of the German Farmers' Association.
Its president, Joachim Rukwied, welcomed the decision in a statement from the association: “The federal government has understood that we farmers will not accept any further disadvantage and thus a weakening of competitiveness.” He also expects that “equality of competition” will continue to be the case in political decisions in the future level is taken into account.
The environmentalists reacted completely differently.
In an initial press statement, the WWF spoke of a “slap in the face for the protection of biodiversity”.
According to WWF agriculture officer Michael Berger, the traffic light government is “running after the populists” and “playing with tomorrow’s food security”.
The WWF speaker is now demanding that Özdemir “provide much more extensive support for the protection of biodiversity through voluntary measures within the CAP.” The abbreviation GAP refers to the “EU Common Agricultural Policy”.
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Green ministries probably fail with compromise proposal
The fact that the EU Commission's offer is being implemented without any compromises in Germany can be seen as a defeat for Steffi Lemke, Environment Minister.
She worked out a compromise proposal together with Özdemir.
According to this, too, the four percent compulsory fallow rate should be abolished.
At the same time, however, funds should be acquired for further environmental performance, three new eco-regulations should be introduced from 2025 and the area bonus of 150 euros per hectare should be reduced slightly.
The proposal probably failed due to the Green coalition partner FDP, the SPD is said to have been satisfied with the compromise.
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