Anafric joins the campaign initiated by the meat employers UECBV and Copa Cogeca, European Farmers, European Agricultural Cooperatives, to protest against what they consider a “criminalization” of red meat by the European Commission, if the proposal to modify the criteria for granting aid for its promotion.
On June 15, the promotion section of the Committee for the Common Organization of Agricultural Markets (called the COM Committee), meets to discuss how to deal with the modification of promotion policies, and Anafric asks the Commission not to discriminate specific products such as red meat, processed meat products or wine; that there is no disproportionate distribution of the budget in favor of other products, and that the global budget is not less than 200 million euros, which was the 2020 budget”.
The president of Anafric, José Friguls, fears that -together with the UECBV and Copa Cogeca- “for the Annual Work Program for 2023, the Commission intends to extend this discrimination to all products of animal origin”.
The president of Anafric, José Friguls, fears that -together with the UECBV and Copa Cogeca- “for the Annual Work Program for 2023, the Commission intends to extend this discrimination to all products of animal origin”. For this reason, Anafric wants to make it clear that “this fact would be very harmful. The livestock sector represents 45% of the total agricultural and livestock activity in the European Union and generates 4 million direct jobs and 30 million indirect jobs, especially in rural areas”.
Anafric points out that “the EU’s promotion policy has been and is a real success when it comes to promoting the Union’s competitiveness and we hope that it will continue to be so for all sectors”.
What is the European promotion policy
The European promotion policy aims to co-finance actions and campaigns inside or outside the EU.
It was designed to promote EU food inside and outside the European Union in the wake of the foot-and-mouth crisis some 20 years ago. It finances campaigns organized by trade associations or directly by the EU, for example through trade missions or at fairs. As part of these campaigns, the EU has spent some €143 million to promote meat over the last five years, according to a recent analysis by EUobserver.
