Family farms are not industrial polluters

The EPP Group wants to slash industrial emissions, but wants to do it together with industry, farmers and SMEs, not against them. This is the line the EPP Group defended in the vote on the so-called Industry Emissions Directive earlier today.

"We want less pollution, but more innovation. The new Industry Emissions Directive will protect nature without creating more paperwork for businesses", said Radan Kanev MEP, the European Parliament’s lead negotiator on industry emissions.

The EPP Group significantly improved the European Commission's law proposal. "We pushed for fast-track procedures and flexible environmental requirements for companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and farmers. We insist that the European Green Deal must be both 'green' and a 'deal'. This must go hand in hand”, said Kanev.

For the EPP Group it is crucial to support family farms, which should not become collateral damage of the new rules. "We want to balance different legitimate goals. We want to reduce emissions. But food production, the social fabric of rural areas, and farmers’ families must also be protected", said Benoît Lutgen, the EPP Group’s responsible MEP for the topic in the Parliament's Agriculture Committee.

Under the original European Commission proposal, family farms with 150 livestock units of cattle, pigs and poultry would have been classified as ‘industrial installations’. The Parliament kept the current rules of 750 livestock units for pigs and poultry and refused to extend the rules to cattle farms. "Today's vote is good news for European family farms which guarantee our sustainable food production. The Parliament didn't allow the farms that breed cows to be listed as big industrial polluters and we avoided setting a new administrative burden for them. This was a good step in favour of our farmers and food security. Let farmers farm, not do paperwork", concluded Lutgen.