The European Commission is reacting to the looming food shortages caused by the war in Ukraine and the sharp rise in the price of grain and sunflower oil.

She wants to partially suspend the "Green Deal" this year in order to expand the production of feed and food.

This emerges from the draft for an emergency plan for food safety, which the Commission intends to present on Wednesday.

Henrik Kafsack

Business correspondent in Brussels.

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The paper is available to the FAZ.

Specifically, the Commission wants to allow farmers to use areas that should actually be set aside in order to protect biodiversity.

For Germany alone, this involves an area of ​​200,000 to 250,000 hectares.

Brussels is reacting to demands from agricultural associations and agricultural politicians.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, they have been pushing for at least a partial suspension of the EU agricultural reforms passed in 2021.

French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized last week that the orientation of agricultural policy towards ecological goals arose from a "pre-Ukraine war world".

Criticism of emergency plan from agriculture committee

The supply of the EU itself is not endangered by the war in Ukraine, as the Commission emphasizes several times in the paper.

Things are different on the African continent.

There, countries like Egypt, Eritrea and Sudan get more than 70 percent of their wheat from Ukraine and Russia.

The Commission fears that rising food prices will increase poverty and instability in Africa and the Middle East, leading to new waves of refugees.

The emergency plan therefore also provides for targeted financial aid for these countries.

The Commission also sees a need for action within the EU, because it cannot easily replace the import of grain for animal feed and sunflower oil.

In addition to suspending the Green Deal, the Commission is planning higher financial aid for farmers.

The chairman of the agricultural committee in the European Parliament, Norbert Lins (CDU), criticized the emergency plan.

"The situation in Ukraine and Russia will probably lead to crop shortages at least until 2023," he stressed.

A suspension of the Green Deal this year is therefore not enough.

In addition, the EU must allow farmers to use weed killers on land that is actually set aside.