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Over the past weeks and months, the Commission has been sending observation letters to all member states that had submitted their national strategic plans for the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform in Brussels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In these plans, member states set out how they intend to achieve the core objectives of the CAP reform on a national level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The German agriculture minister struck a completely different tone in his reaction to the Commission\u2019s letter to some of his counterparts in other states: France\u2019s former agriculture minister Julien Denormandie had reacted to the far-reaching criticism of his national plan by the Commission with a letter of reply in which he rejected a large part of the warnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In contrast, \u00d6zdemir tweeted that he would \u201ccarefully discuss the Commission\u2019s suggestions with the federal states.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI see this as an encouragement to make the transformation towards a resilient and sustainable agriculture also here in Germany,\u201d he added in Brussels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00d6zdemir\u2019s recent accession to office and the feedback\u2019s harmony with his ministry\u2019s own goals are likely contributing factors to why the Commission\u2019s comments were received positively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tailwind for the new government<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00d6zdemir\u2019s recent accession to office and the harmony of the feedback with his ministry\u2019s own goals are likely contributing factors to why the Commission\u2019s comments were received positively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The German CAP strategic plan was largely drafted by his conservative predecessor, ex-agriculture minister Julia Kl\u00f6ckner. \u00d6zdemir hardly had time to make any changes of his own after taking office in December 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The criticism from Brussels now gives him the opportunity to pillory the work of the previous government and at the same time to potentially follow his own course in cooperation with the Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe, too, see room for improvement in the CAP framework for 2023-27 drafted by the previous government,\u201d \u00d6zdemir tweeted about the Commission\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, the content of many of the key issues flagged by Brussels matches the political priorities of \u00d6zdemir\u2019s green-led agriculture ministry \u2013 especially because the Commission expects Germany to be more ambitious when it comes to implementing the European Green Deal, the EU\u2019s flagship strategy for environmental and climate protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe comments from Brussels are in line with what we are working on intensively: Advancing food security, climate protection, and biodiversity together and not seeing them as opposites,\u201d said \u00d6zdemir, interpreting the Commission\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Against this background, the Green minister can hope to have his position strengthened during upcoming discussions on possible changes to the German strategic plan with agricultural stakeholders, but also with the federal states, on whose approval he is dependent when it comes to the CAP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n