European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced that she is going to set up a “strategic dialogue” on the future of EU agriculture in her fourth and final state of the union address in this mandate.

Her wide-ranging address highlighted the importance of the Green Deal, but focused primarily on energy and industry as opposed to agriculture.

However, she did refer to Europe being a “continent of forests” and their importance in absorbing CO2, filtering air and water and she also referenced the importance of EU biodiversity.

Tribute

She paid tribute to EU farmers and expressed gratitude for providing food and said that self-sufficiency was important.

Her address also acknowledged the difficulty with farm incomes, linking them to the impact of climate change, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and new obligations.

The president concluded her remarks on agriculture by saying: "We must work together with the men and women in farming to tackle these new challenges. That is the only way to secure the supply of food for the future. We need more dialogue and less polarisation."

To do that, she announced the strategic dialogue, but provided no detail on how and when it would commence.

Von der Leyen's comments come against of backdrop of growing farmer protests such as those in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Trade

On trade agreements, the president repeated that it was her “aim to complete deals with Australia, Mexico and Mercosur by the end of this year” and deals with India and Indonesia were flagged as coming soon.

Mercosur was agreed in 2019, but no steps have been taken towards implementation, while negotiations with Australia broke down in July without a deal. However, negotiations have resumed and a deal is expected in the coming weeks.

Read more

Explainer: Why are Dutch farmers protesting?

Watch: Traffic tailback for miles at Dutch farmer protests