Agrifood, Prandini: Brussels should activate the Cohesion fund for flooded Romagna companies. We do not accept Timmermans blackmail on TEAs. VIDEOINTERVIEW

“The first issue we addressed is that of resources for the companies affected by the flood. We remind you that there are 5,000 agricultural entrepreneurs in very serious difficulty and the timeliness in giving answers will make the difference. Precisely from this point of view, beyond the fund of solidarity, the cohesion fund must be activated, which becomes a further possibility of finding resources, with the possibility of anticipating, as soon as our Government presents the documentation, 25% of the economic allocation”.

So to AGRICOLAE Ettore Prandini, president of Coldiretti, during a series of institutional meetings in Brussels with Ambassadors, top executives of the Commission, members of the Agriculture Cabinet and many European parliamentarians from all sides.

“In addition to this, we talked about the resources linked to the PNRR, with a greater allocation for the agri-food chains. Our intention is to triple the resources allocated to agriculture, in order to create a growth development also as regards innovation. The last point is that of teas, of cisgenetics.We have worked with the agriculture and environment commissions, and spoken with the director general of health, all to speed up the moment of the meeting-comparison which will be on the date of 5 (July ed), that there are postponements and blackmail implemented by Timmermans, who raises the question linked to the approval of the TEAs if the regulations proposed by his Directorate will be approved.

All of this is unacceptable. We must reject everything concerning emissions into the atmosphere because it is not absolutely true but misleading, we must also reject the issue of reducing plant protection products, because it would mean a greater impact on imports that we would have to make from other continents, to make up for what we would be able to produce in Europe. Finally, we have to innovate, and TEAs are the tool that looks at sustainability, but at the same time also at innovation towards climate change. We have received significant and important responses and we hope that they will be made available to the agricultural and agri-food sectors”, continues Prandini.

“The meeting with all Italian parliamentarians from all political groups is to find a form of cohesion on what interests our country for growth and development. The issue of PDOs and GIs is of fundamental importance, because it would extend GIs are also required to identify the origin of the agricultural product by member state. This is a significant change in the approach and enhancement of our supply chains, which is why we need greater cohesion. We are not limiting ourselves to our parliamentarians, but we are also involving those of other member states to help them understand how much this could be of interest to them too for the future perspective and for the protection of Italian and European excellence for export to other countries”.