b'Agriculture: A Strategic Activity at the Heart of the Concerns of the French Presidency of the European Union and the New French GovernmentBY: RACHEL BLUMELAN UNPRECEDENTED CONTEXTness. However, the stalemate in the conflictstrongly mobilised the Member States IN EUROPE and Russia\'s occupation of 22 per cent ofand the European institutions to con-Plunged into a global health crisis overUkraine\'s agricultural territory means thatfront this context while supporting the the past two years, Europe is now facingthe seed production needed for the cropsimplementation of the "Farm to Fork" and a war with humanitarian, economic andin the coming two years cannot be guaran- Biodiversity 2030 strategies.environmental consequences in all sec- teed. There is a serious risk of tensions inAll in all, 130 texts were adopted, tors. After 70 years of peace, the Russian- Europe, with only 50-60 per cent of normalmore than 2,000 meetings were held with Ukrainian conflict has mobilised all 27seed production expected in Ukraine,European decision makers and 700,000 Member States in a united effort of soli- under severely degraded conditions. participants attended the Conference darity, with both sanctions against RussiaFour months after the beginning ofon the Future of Europe, which was and support for Ukraine.the conflict, the European Union and thelaunched on 9 May 2021 and concluded The European Union and its MemberFrench government have put food sover- after a year of citizen-led debates and dis-States have taken in more than 7.6 mil- eignty back at the centre of political strat- cussions, adopting 49 proposals on how to lion Ukrainian refugees and have mobi- egies. The seed sector will play a key rolechange Europe.lised 335 million in humanitarian aid,but is facing reduced production plansThe main agricultural measures in addition to 1.28 billion in bilateraldue to competition for raw materials asspearheaded by the French Presidency aid from Member States. At the samewell as rising inputs prices, which willthat are likely to have an impact on seed time, an exceptional financial aid of 2inevitably lead to higher seed prices. companies are the following:billion has been allocated to Ukraine and the European Union has announced itsOBJECTIVES AND RESULTS- Reciprocity of standardsintention to provide further assistance ofOF THE FPEU FOR THE [Europe] will have nothing to gain if 9 billion in 2022 for the reconstructionAGRICULTURAL SECTOR raising the standards that apply to our of the country. The Frances Presidency of the Councilfarmers ultimately results in a drop in The European seed sector is par- of the European Union (FPEU) hasour production and an increase in imports ticularly affected by this context. In France, UFS (the French association of seed companies and plant breeders) has conducted several surveys from March to June to identify the impacts on its mem-bers. During the first four weeks of the conflict, actions were taken to ensure the safety of employees and their families, as factories were shut down due to the mobi-lisation; the delivery of seeds for spring sowing was secured under very difficult logistical conditions. The measures taken by the European Commission and the Ukrainian government have enabled a rapid revitalisation of the seed busi-Informal Meeting of European Ministers of Agriculture in Strasbourg Xavier Remongin/presidence-francaise.consilium.europa.eu (8 February 2022)20IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'