Rukwied opens Farmers' Day with criticism of "traffic lights" and calls for more EU money
If farmers' concerns were understood not only in Brussels but also here, "no fertilizer law would have been introduced" and the animal welfare law would not have been brought into legislative procedure in this form, said Rukwed. The same applies to the proposals for plant protection. Some planned regulations "go far beyond EU law."
The Farmers' President also criticized again the relief package for the German agriculture, which was passed by the coalition factions on Tuesday. It includes tax benefits in the case of yield fluctuations due to weather conditions and measures for bureaucracy reduction.
But this is "merely a small step and years away from what is necessary," said Rukwed. The federal government still seems "not to have understood that the German economic and agricultural location can only be future-proof if it is also competitive." Our farmers and farmers urgently need reliefs - above all tax reliefs and a real bureaucracy reduction.
In the run-up to the Farmers' Day, Rukwed had also campaigned for higher food prices. "We need a societal consensus that food from Germany is not a matter of course and must also have its value recognized," he told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland. This must be recognized not only by politics but also by consumers and consumers.
Customers must be clear that meat and sausages are produced to higher standards here than elsewhere, continued Rukwed. "These foods must then have a higher price. Who wants high-quality, domestic food, must also pay more for it."
Criticism came from the FDP. The food prices have already significantly increased due to inflation, explained the agricultural politician Gero Hocker. "High-quality food must remain affordable for the broad population." Distributional debates diverted from the real problems - namely "bureaucracy, regulations, and progress aversion."
The Farmers' President also demanded more EU money for agriculture. "We still need a stable agricultural balance in the federal budget and, due to the increasing challenges, a larger EU agricultural budget." In the morning magazine of ZDF, he said, "we must bring agriculture in Europe back to the forefront" and the new commission and the responsible commissioner or commissioner. "Here we must ensure that agriculture in Europe is taken forward again."
- Joachim Rukwied, the president of the German Farmers' Association, stated that if concerns of farmers were understood in Brussels, the fertilizer law and the animal welfare law would not have been introduced in their current forms.
- In response to the relief package for German agriculture passed by the coalition factions, Rukwied expressed that it is merely a small step and years away from what is needed for a future-proof economic and agricultural location.
- Rukwied has also campaigned for higher food prices, emphasizing the need for a societal consensus that food from Germany must be valued and not taken for granted.
- Rukwied further clarified that customers should be aware that meat and sausages produced in Germany are higher quality, and thus should be priced higher.
- FDP agricultural politician Gero Hocker criticized the increase in food prices, stating that high-quality food must remain affordable for the broad population.
- Rukwied also demanded more EU money for agriculture, urging a stable agricultural balance in the federal budget and a larger EU agricultural budget to address increasing challenges.
- Rukwied emphasized the importance of prioritizing agriculture in Europe, urging the new commission and the responsible commissioner to ensure progress for agriculture in Europe.
