UNION OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES FROM VEGETAL SECTOR

Through the Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation, as of 29 September 2020, U.N.C.S.V. has become a member of the European organization COPA - COGECA. In order to avoid the need for the amount to be paid by the MADR, the U.N.C.S.V. team worked on the proposal of the legislative project on the professional agricultural contribution, where, on a voluntary basis, farmers who wish to do so can transfer an agreed amount per ha to one or more professional organisations that represent their legitimate interests in a coherent and concrete professional way. In this way we will align ourselves with European practices and ensure a permanent presence within the organisation.
Very important have been the numerous positions we have been able to take in relation to the Commission for the adjustment of the requirements related to the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies (50% reduction in the use and risk of chemical pesticides by 2030, 50% reduction in the use of high risk pesticides, reduction of nutrient losses by at least 50% by 2030, 25% of agricultural area dedicated to organic farming by 2030). The Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation also aimed to support the cause of Romanian farmers in the unfavourable context generated by the exodus of cereals and food products from Ukraine, which has created numerous logistical and economic difficulties for domestic producers, and to support the point of view of Romanian farmers and cooperatives on the draft Regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides. The Romanian delegation submitted numerous amendments to the text proposed by the Commission and actively contributed to the drafting of Copa-Cogeca's official position papers on this issue of major interest, which may significantly affect national and European production.
Issues of great importance for the Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation in Copa-Cogeca were also the support and maintenance on the European public agenda of the topic of food security, the insistence on the specificity of each country when structuring public policies on the CAP post 2027 and the framework for carbon certification. Regarding the future CAP, we have had numerous interventions in the working meetings and have sent contributions representing a preliminary basic perspective on the future document. Increasing the budget, investment for irrigators, external convergence, strengthening the negotiating power of cooperatives and the possibility of using NGTs were just some of the key elements we saw to be included in the future Common Agricultural Policy. On the carbon certification framework, we have been campaigning for more time to understand and familiarise ourselves with this topic.

None declared

Promotes their own interests or the collective interests of their members

Jan 2022 - Dec 2022

25,000€ - 49,999€

None declared

25,000€ - 49,999€

None declared

none

Green new deal#Climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development

To date, U.N.C.S.V. has sent more than 800 official addresses and position letters to national and European authorities, organisations and bodies in order to signal and favourably resolve a number of issues related to the legitimate interests raised by its members and to the self-reporting of the organisation's executive secretariat.
In this regard UNCSV both individually and through the Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation has drafted, forwarded and advocated positions to the President, the Minister of Agriculture, Romania's Agricultural Representative in Brussels, Romanian MEPs and to Copa-Cogeca to ask for a faster convergence of area payments so that Romania can reach by 2024 the average area payment existing in the EU and have a budget at least equal to the CAP 2014-2020, especially as there are many more constraints and limitations for Romanian/European farmers, creating unfair competition for them in relation to farmers and agri-food products from non-EU - third countries.

UNCSV participated in all the meetings held on this topic in the NSP Thematic Advisory Committee, the 5 working groups of interest, analysed version 2 of the NSP SWOT 2021-2027 and supported proposals for amendments and additions during the meetings held at MADR.

Through the Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation, as of 29 September 2020, U.N.C.S.V. became a member of the European organization COPA - COGECA.
Currently on this working group, U.N.C.S.V. has appointed one expert in the civil dialogue group Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) at DG AGRI and 2 experts in the internal CAP working groups of COPA - COGECA that take place before the civil dialogue group. Before each civil dialogue group there is a working group on this segment at COPA - COGECA. As many working groups as necessary are organised depending on emergencies and new developments.

Together with the Alliance, U.N.C.S.V. participated in more than 20 meetings of the Working Group "Common Agricultural Policy" and 5 Civil Dialogue Groups of DG AGRI, actively contributing to:

 Analysis and comparison of the options of Romania and the other Member States regarding the allocation of funds under the new Common Agricultural Policy;
 Centralisation and presentation of the Romanian NSP interventions to Copa-Cogeca members;
 Analysis of the impact of the Green Pact strategies on Romania's agri-food sector, if implemented as launched by the Commission;
 Comments on the Green Deal impact studies carried out by Wageningen University;
 Update information on Romania's National Strategic Plan as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development updates the structure of interventions;
 Analysis of drafts of secondary legislation on the CAP and how it can be adjusted to be compatible with Romanian realities;
 Forwarding to COPA - COGECA and the European Commission the incompatibilities between the Green Pact strategies (Farm to Fork, Biodiversity Strategy) and the particularities of Romanian agriculture;
 Presentation to COPA - COGECA members of the comments received by Romania on the NSP sent to the Commission on 28 February 2022, to be compared with those received by the other Member States;
 Presentation of the inconveniences caused to Romanian farmers by the elimination of import duties on products of Ukrainian origin;
 Support the Commission's approval of the adjustment of the NSPs in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict;
 Obtain one-off derogations from certain greening practices that endanger cereal and oilseed production;
 Reporting on the complicated logistical situation in Romanian ports caused by uncontrolled grain imports from Ukraine;
 Create a permanent lobby for European support for Romanian producers affected by imports from Ukraine, as well as the allocation of European funds for the modernisation of national ports and railway routes for the transit of cereals from Ukraine;

None declared

1 meetings found. Download meetings

The list below only covers meetings held since November 2014 with commissioners, their cabinet members or directors-general at the European Commission; other lobby meetings with lower-level staff may have taken place, but the European Commission doesn't proactively publish information about these meetings. For more information about which commissioner is responsible for which portfolio, check out this link: https://commissioners.ec.europa.eu/index_en All information below comes from European Commission web pages.

• Date	23 May 2023	Location	Brussels, Belgium
  Subject	Meeting with the farmers from 5 frontline Member States (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia) about the impact of imports of Ukrainian agricultural products
  Cabinet	Cabinet of Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski
  Portfolio	Agriculture
  Attending	Janusz Wojciechowski (Commissioner) Magdalena Majerczyk (Cabinet member) Maciej Golubiewski (Cabinet member) Andreas Schneider (Cabinet member)
  Other Lobbyists	Agrární komora České republiky European farmers Slovak Crop Protection Association Lietuvos vidutinių pieno ūkių asociacija Nemzeti Agrárgazdasági Kamara Zemědělský svaz České republiky European agri-cooperatives European Employers' Group of Professional Agricultural Organisations