Mr. Michael Scannell:

On the issue of what has been done to deal with the increases in food prices in member states, this has been largely dealt with at member state level. Each and every member state is very preoccupied with this for the very good reason that food prices have gone up sharply and this impacts on lower income groups in particular so it basically has a major societal impact. What political system can afford to ignore that impact, which is why you cannot pick up a newspaper these days without reading about this particular issue? I am not going to go into what Ireland is doing as compared to France as compared to Greece etc., but suffice it to say this is very prominent on the economic and political agenda Europe-wide. In so far as the Commission itself has a role, I go back to our communication of 23 March on food security. We signalled that in a European context, member states need to use the instruments available to them and that includes for example flexibility on VAT rates on food and food products in general; social support measures to funnel resources to lower income groups to help them deal with the price impact; and measures on the supply chain to allow farmers to deal with higher input costs, so that in turn their producer prices are kept at a reasonable level. Obviously if producer prices are increasing, as a reflection of increased input costs, this has an impact further on in the food chain.

This brings me to the Senator's question as to the extent we in the Commission are working to adapt the CAP to reflect what is happening in Ukraine. I mentioned that member states are currently at a very advanced stage in their CAP strategic plan preparations for the newly reformed CAP from 1 January. This is a huge undertaking but, as part of that process, the Commission has already written so-called "observation letters" to the member states on their preliminary plans. We took that opportunity to remind them to factor in the need to review just how resilient their agrifood systems are in the light of what is happening in Ukraine and, in the background also, the far bigger existential threat to agrifood production systems, from climate change. Basically we need to see from member states a high level of ambition on how they will anticipate and take into account climate change because this is not an issue they can afford to ignore, nor can farmers ignore it, nor indeed are they. I do not think there is any member state or any farming organisation or individual farmer who does not feel impacted. They are the ones on the ground who see the consequences. We have been speaking repeatedly about the impact of the current dry spell in Europe and of the heatwave that is currently taking place on projected harvests. Every farmer growing cereals in Europe is checking the weather forecast ten times a day. They recall that they are doing this a lot more than they did in the past. In terms of how they plan or what they plant, they now increasingly have to factor in the situation on water, fertiliser and the plant protection products used etc., so that they can be viable and more sustainable. Nobody can escape the implications of this challenge ahead of us. We have to remain flexible and that is why on Monday in the agriculture Council, we will hear from the member states on their take on the current situation and the extent, if any, to which our plans need to be adapted to Ukraine or to the climate change situation, etc. I will stop at that.