*[Enwl-eng] Seven years and €60,000,000,000
ENWLine
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Once every 7 years, the European Parliament allocates hundreds of billions of euros for farming with one decisive vote. One proposed compromise will support industrial farming. But we still have a chance to swing this vote the other way. |
Hi,
Tomorrow Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will decide on Europe’s future path. They will either vote for a transformation toward sustainable agriculture, or a really bad compromise. [1]
The compromise is being promoted by the three largest political groups in the European Parliament – and it’s bad news for farmers, consumers and the environment. For instance, they suggest defining a maximum amount of money EU countries are allowed to spend on the environment, instead of defining a minimum. The compromise would do little to fight the climate crisis, animal suffering or poisoned food, air and water. [2]
But there’s good news, too: we know from past experience that MEPs not familiar with specific topics tend to vote the way their constituents ask, not the way their party leaders demand. But only if they hear from us, their voters. That’s why today we’re urgently sending thousands of messages to our MEPs.
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Agriculture done in the right way can provide us with all the healthy food we need without the avoidable suffering of animals and needless damage to the environment. And every farmer can be a driver for positive change to a more sustainable agriculture, but they need the right support. The European Union holds the key to that, providing nearly 60 billion euros every year for farmers - more than an entire third of the EU budget. [3]
Instead, the compromise proposal would continue threatening our climate by subsidising the draining of peatland, leading to the release of CO2 and threatening biodiversity. It also wouldn’t reduce the allowed number of cattle per hectare, which is much needed in order to decrease methane and nitrate emissions. And the list of bad ideas in this compromise goes on. [4]
But MEPs are more likely to follow their conscience and their constituency instead of voting the way their party leader demands (especially if it's for a bad compromise with other parties). It’s now up to you, Vladimir, and to all of us to urge our MEPs to make the right choice.
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We know from experience that it’s possible to swing MEPs’ votes by sending them thousands of emails. Just last spring, we won a vote in the European Parliament to stop toxic lead-contaminated PVC from being recycled and sold in Europe. The result was very close, and we only won by 41 votes. [5] But the impact of that vote will be felt for generations to come.
Every vote in the European Parliament matters for Europeans like us. And every email we send to our MEPs has real-world consequences, too - yours could make the difference in how your MEPs vote. This vote could define the future of European agriculture for years to come, so please join us.
With hope,
David (London), Jörg (Lübeck), Alex (Marseille) and the
entire WeMove Europe team
References:
[1]
https://twitter.com/BirdLifeEurope/status/1315965695574913024
[2]
The three political groups are the Conservatives/Christian Democrats (EPP), the
Socialists & Democrats (S&D), and the Liberals (Renew Europe). The
compromise text can be found here:
https://eeb.org/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?juwpfisadmin=false&action=wpfd&task=file.download&wpfd_category_id=53&wpfd_file_id=102570&token=cf53d6abdef67934065e6859de47eecb&preview=1
[3]
https://www.euronews.com/2020/07/20/common-agricultural-policy-what-is-it-how-does-it-work-how-might-it-be-about-to-changehttps://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/food-farming-fisheries/farming/documents/cap-expenditure-graph1_en.pdf
[4]
https://twitter.com/mhojsik/status/1227551424722153472
[5]
https://eeb.org/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?juwpfisadmin=false&action=wpfd&task=file.download&wpfd_category_id=53&wpfd_file_id=102570&token=cf53d6abdef67934065e6859de47eecb&preview=1
WeMove Europe is an independent and values-based organisation that seeks to build people power to transform Europe in the name of our community, future generations and the planet.
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