College Read-Out — Tuesday, 19 May 2026

Key Points

• The Commission has adopted a new action plan on fertilizers to enhance food security and competitiveness.
• Two European citizens' initiatives on biodiversity and ecosystems have been registered for signature collection.
• A substantial financial support package for farmers will be presented in June to alleviate immediate pressures.
• Legislative proposals will provide flexibility in CAP strategic plans for member states to manage funds effectively.
• The Commission aims to reduce dependence on imported fertilizers by promoting organic and bio-based alternatives.
• A new fertilizer value chain partnership will be launched to enhance collaboration between producers and farmers.

Full Transcript

Transcribed automatically from EbS (Europe by Satellite) · English audio track · AI-generated · May contain errors · Verify before quoting

Opening Statement

Good afternoon. Almost a good evening from the press room of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Today is Tuesday, 19th of May, and we're here for the college readout. First of all, let me apologize for having started a bit later than expected. Unfortunately, the plenary debate went one hour longer than initially scheduled, so also our press conference has been moved. Executive Vice President Fitto was supposed to be here with us for this press event. Unfortunately, he had travel commitments and he had to leave at 5 o'clock at the latest, so he is not present, but we will be publishing his press remarks in case of interest because he was really keen on participating. But we're here with Commissioner Hansen for the college readout. Commissioner, over to you.

Christophe Hansen: Yes, good afternoon and welcome to the readout of our college meeting. We have indeed adopted a new action plan on fertilizers, which I just presented as well, to the members of the European Parliament, and I will give you the details on that in a moment. But before that, let me mention that we have registered two European citizens' initiatives on the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems, and I would like to recall that the Commission has not analyzed the substance of these two initiatives at this stage, and the registration means that the organizers can now begin the 12-month period for collecting the necessary signatures, and if they collect at least one million signatures from at least seven different member states, the Commission will then have to act, and the Spokesperson Service is publishing a press release as we speak, where you can find further details on this, and with this being said, I would go over to the press conference on the fertilizers package. For me, it is important to present this action plan for fertilizers today, after working on it for several months already, and it is not a day too early. I have to say we started to work, of course, already well ahead of the Middle East crisis, but this made it even more urgent to act, and I recently met a French cereal farmer who is cultivating about 400 hectares, and he told me if the situation of insecurity for the fertilizer prices stays as it is, he's considering planting only half of his land, and this would, of course, be detrimental to our food security, and from a lot of feedback I hear, he is not the only one thinking that way, and that, of course, is a situation we have to avoid by any means, and this would, of course, be productive land that I would refuse to lose, and because it is our food security, and we cannot afford to lose that food security. Dependencies are vulnerabilities, and our structural dependency on imports putting our food security and competitiveness at risk. For example, we import two-thirds of our needs for urea, a commonly used fertilizer, and it makes us more vulnerable to global price volatility, and it is simple. The more expensive energy gets, the more expensive fertilizers get, and fertilizers already cost 70% more than in 2024, and they were already too expensive in 2024, and farmers already struggle to make a living compared with other sectors of our society, and this, of course, adds significant financial pressure on them. For farmers cultivating crops, fertilizers can represent up to 20% of their total input costs. Summer is coming, and this is when farmers will decide what to plant and how much fertilizers to buy. The time to act is therefore now. The fertilizers action plan we present today is about securing Europe's food production, competitiveness, and its strategic autonomy, and first, we will support farmers and food security in the short term. We will provide immediate relief, much needed, when the bills start coming in for the farmers. The Commission will deliver a substantial financial support package to affected farmers before summer, and this is our commitment, and we will present it in June with the amending budget, and this is crucial as support from the Agriculture Reserve lands quickly at the farm, as we do not have to go through national plans of the member states. In addition, we will also present targeted legislative proposals on the current common agricultural policy to give more flexibility to the member states in how they manage their CAP strategic plans. We will provide them with options to redirect their unused funds to new liquidity schemes and to pay their annual CAP payments in advance with less bureaucracy. Combination of these measures, agriculture reserve, and flexibility in national plans will provide enough cash flow to run farms and keep producing. Our upcoming legislative proposals will also recommend that member states develop in their CAP strategic plans a new or updated eco-scheme or agri-environmental measure, and step up investments under their CAP strategic plans, for example on precision farming. And these new measures should aim to improve fertilization efficiency, stimulate sustainable use of recycled nutrients, and strengthen farm resilience. And of course, I count on the co-legislators to give to this proposal the priority it deserves in their work. And we should, however, not depend only on chemical fertilizers. We have more organic and recycled solutions available, too, and they have an important potential we can tap into. We will therefore facilitate the use of digestates, which are a by-product of biogas production. Preparatory work is already underway with the aim of providing practical solutions by the next growing season. We want also a proportionate implementation of the nitrates directive when it comes to so-called calendar farming, periods when farmers can and cannot spread manure. Climate conditions are changing. Commission will provide further clarifications to member states, which will allow them to adapt these rules to the reality of farming and climate conditions in their country. And all these measures should provide fast relief, but we are not just treating the symptoms. We need to fix the system, too. As a second point, we must reduce our dependence on imported fertilizers by making it easier to develop and use European alternatives, in particular organic and bio-based fertilizers. For example, biogas and biomethane do not mean only domestic energy, but also homegrown fertilizers in form of digestate. But there's also algae, biomass, different other soil enhancers, microbial solutions, biostimulants, recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus from the sewage sludge, to name only a few promising pathways. And we will assess our regulatory framework to strengthen the business cases of these bio-based solutions products to make them more affordable over time. And we will include voluntary and mandatory labeling schemes and minimum blending requirements with low carbon or bio-based content. Thirdly, we will launch a new fertilizer value chain partnership. Fertilizer producers and farmers must work hand in hand in a partnership to ensure competitiveness for everyone. EU farmers must be part of the business case for homegrown fertilizers. And in the context of the upcoming ETS review, and without prejudging it, we will examine options to ensure that any additional flexibility for industry comes as well with responsibility. Responsibility to decarbonize the production and responsibility to produce what Europe needs, increased production of bio-based and circular fertilizers, and securing the availability and affordability of homegrown fertilizers in Europe. We also need to make sure that these products, despite their higher price, are taken up by farmers by giving the right incentives and by combining forces between CAP, carbon credits, and ETS revenues. By making farmers part of the business case for nutrient recycling. Such win-win approaches ensure availability and affordability for farmers, uptake of European fertilizer products, and thus ultimately benefit homegrown industry. And we all agree that the value chain needs more transparency and more dialogue. A central innovation of the plan is the EU fertilizers value chain partnership, bringing together fertilizer producers, farmers, and member states. And it is a structured forum for policy dialogue and practical coordination. The partnership is about predictability, predictable supplies for the farmers, predictable demand for the producers, predictable policy conditions for investment. And as all players are part of the chain, solutions depend on partnerships. We will strengthen market monitoring and early warning, propose a framework to ensure the availability of up-to-date data, and keep the fertilizers market observatory as a central platform for market intelligence that informs all. To conclude, this fertilizer action plan is a clear call for action at all levels, European, national, and private, and across all policies. Change will take time, but today we set course of action and the direction we choose to put our food security, our strategic autonomy, and competitiveness first, today and for the future. Thank you. Thank you very much, Commissioner. We're now ready to take your questions. Like usual, please say your name and the media outlet for which you work. I think we can start with a question from remote. We have Adrienne connected.

Agricultural reserve funding discussion

Q: Yes, indeed. I was asked this question in Plenary. We've got the agricultural reserve, where we have a little bit over 200 million euro. It's the minimum, but we have to increase this amount twofold. This will depend on the budgetary authority, i.e. the member states and the European Parliament. It's up to them to decide. But as I said, it is the co-legislators that shoulder the responsibility of acting quickly. They've got to do it. The ball is in their court. But they can actually double the amount of 200 million euro between now and June. They can put this on the table and discuss it to make sure that this cash is there. The agricultural reserve actually allows us to do this pretty quickly. Thank you. Now, you did not talk about CBAM and suspension of this. This is something that was actually mentioned by Jordan Bardella and another MEP who's a farmer and an MEP from the ECR group. So, what is your justification here? Because if I read your action plan and you're carrying out an impact assessment of CBAM on farmers and food prices, this impact assessment will only be available in 2027. So, are you flying blind at the moment?

Spokesperson: Well, I think it would be a bad good idea actually to suspend CBAM. Now, in plenary, this question was asked. Now, we import about 40 to 45% of our chemical fertilizers from third countries. It depends on the country, on the year in question. So, we're not talking about all our fertilizers that will be subject to CBAM. Then secondly, we also have a domestic industry and a number of member states, notably in France, who also are facing the pressure because they are being faced with unfair competition from third country producers if we don't have any CBAM in place. And furthermore, in recent years, we've also seen industries in the EU closing their doors specifically because they can no longer invest because they're in a situation facing unfair competition from third countries. So, we need to ensure that the European production fabric is maintained. All our companies are not running at full speed, that from 60% domestic production, I would like to increase this. And in this way, this would reduce our dependence even further. It would keep industries in Europe. And I think that this is an objective that we all have when we're talking about sovereignty, when it comes to fertilizers and inputs, it also leads to our food sovereignty. Because if these individuals you have mentioned think these are important topics, then I think that we need to think long term and not just simply short term. And we very clearly said that we will definitely look for the financial aid. I will provide more detail on this. But we also want to create a system where we have ETS revenue that encourages and gives farmers a possibility to use this revenue. Because at the moment, farmers have to pay to participate in these systems. What I would like is for farmers to be remunerated for these materials that they are producing anyway, rather than paying for fertilizers that are imported from third countries. So, it's not just about short term solutions. And it's about talking about cheaper solutions that are cheap in the long term. Thank you. The next speaker is in the press room.

Farmers' access to aid

Q (Luxembourg radio): Thank you, Danielle Weber with the Luxembourg radio, the state radio. You're talking about a substantial amount, that is the amount in your press release. And you've just mentioned the market reserve. You've talked about the double amount, 400 million. Is this the specific amount that you're going to put on the table in June? And how can the farmers tap into this aid? Do you have any practical tips on how they can go about this? Thank you.

Spokesperson: It will depend on the European Parliament. And the member states. It's up to them to see whether we can add to the slightly over 200 million euros that we have. We'll see whether we can actually increase it twofold and get to almost 400 million. So, if the co-legislators agree, then yes, we can increase the amount. But it will all depend on whether they cooperate or not. As you know, money doesn't grow on trees, it doesn't grow in fields. So, you've got to look for it where it actually is. Now, to disperse the crisis reserve, it wouldn't be the first time. We've got experience, it can go very quickly. So, we can base this on experience we've already garnered. Now, we can unveil the tool before the summer recess so that it can be available at the end of the summer, which is when farmers decide whether they're going to go for different crops or not. So, that's when the money has to be available. So, I am counting on the co-lawmakers working hand in glove so that we can have a substantial amount to disperse and to be able to get it quickly to our farmers. Thank you very much. I have more questions in the room and then I'll ask the online colleagues to wait.

Fertilizer availability concerns

Q: What is your assessment of fertilizer availability today, I would like to know, and are there concerns about supply? Thank you. I didn't get the first part of the question, could you just repeat it? What is your assessment of fertilizer availability today?

Spokesperson: The current state of play is that there is not a problem for this season of availability, there is a huge problem of price, that is what we are really facing. The Middle East, we are fortunately not importing much from the Middle East when it comes to fertilizers, it's only about 2-3 percent, so that is not impacting the availability. The problem is, of course, on the one side the energy, so the gas that we would need to produce our fertilizers, that is becoming more expensive, that is one part, and then products like urea, for example, it is a global market crisis, so if there is less coming to the market from a certain region, well then the price globally goes up wherever you produce it, so currently we have no supply problems, we have a price problem, and that is what we need to resolve now in the short term with this financial support, but these crises are there to come back as well, because we have seen several spikes over the last 10 years, I would say we had from 2020 to 2024 an increase partially of over 60 percent, it went a little bit down again, and now it's going up on top of that by 70 percent, so this is really a situation that seems to be recurrent, so coming back several times, and that is why it is of utmost importance that we become more resilient, this is partly done, for example, by as well getting new suppliers, that is why we have reduced as well already before this Fertilizer Action Plan the MFN duties for certain third counties which are not Russia and Belarus, of course, but for example Trinidad and Tobago is a major producer and others, so there we get as well now new supplies, and the figures show as well that there are new suppliers stepping in due to that. Thank you very much, we can take a couple of questions from remote. Julian, over to you. You need to press on speak.

Reducing fertilizer imports impact

Q (EU Perspectives): Yeah, it's okay, you hear me? Yes, and we see you now. It's Julian Casapi from EU Perspectives. Mr. Hansen, you said earlier that EU needs to reduce imports on fertilizers, but how could that be without driving higher costs for farmers in the short term? Thank you.

Spokesperson: Reduce our dependencies in the medium and long term for sure, but we have as well at the same time, as I just said, opened up for new suppliers to step into the ones that are currently non-reliable or not accessible. I think that is the first part. The second part is, of course, we have now as well proposed financial means on the table in order to flatten the curve of the prices, but we have also allowed in the frame of the CAP, for example, advanced payments and to make use of the non-used funds in the common agriculture policy. This is, of course, different from member state to member state, but we see that in a few member states there is let's say a gap, especially in the second pillar of the CAP, of money that is not used because the programs don't work or for other reasons, but we will allow, if the co-legislators allow us, to redirect this money, for example, to new eco-schemes or enhance existing ones, but as well, for example, for investments in precision farming, which will then as well, even if you use less fertilizer as well, you have to pay for less tonnage then as well, and this is then counterbalancing this as well. So there are, of course, the new tools we have as well, and this is very important, a lot of untapped potential in the organic fertilizers. We have, for example, now as well opened the possibility for calendar farming, which allows us to make a better use because we have, of course, climate change and currently farmers can only, between a certain date and a certain date, use their manure if it's now the appropriate moment or not. This does not make sense from an agronomic point of view, and we give now the tools to the member states to be there more flexible so that the nutrients can be better absorbed. I think this is very important. Then also, we have a lot of, for the digestate, for example, that is not used currently because, especially in more vulnerable zones, we have as well animal by-products that, as I give you the example of wool, wool is currently classified as more or less as waste, but in fact it has a very, it's category three, but it has a huge potential for soil enhancement. So all these elements together can contribute to firstly an income for the farmers in that sense, but secondly as well more availability of domestic fertilizers, and our estimates say as well that if we make the best use of our organic available fertilizers, we can replace by 20%, around 20% the imported chemical fertilizers, and I think this potential shows us as well how, even if the prices are going up, that we have potential to counterbalance it with domestic production. Thank you very much, Commissioner. We have another hand raised from remote.

Q: The connection cannot be interpreted for technical reasons.

Spokesperson: It's a shame that the agricultural reserve is not larger, and I've said this multiple times for the future budget. We are going to call it the unity safety net. It's something that we're going to double in amount so that we can be more agile when it comes to crisis management. So at the moment there are still, there are natural disasters, especially in Spain and Portugal, that are still being dealt with. France has also been the recipient of funds to mitigate crises, but the current crisis is something that affects all member states, and we want to use these funds in the most efficient, most equitable way possible. We have a little over 200 million euros, and that's what we will be spending, but I think we also have to ask a question regarding the future. Do the tools we have suffice in terms of funds as well? Like I said, we're looking to also double this amount, so we're also looking for new opportunities, new possibilities for farmers. Thank you very much. I don't see any other hands raised. If there are no other questions, thank you very much for participating in this press conference.

Spokesperson: Thank you very much, Commissioner, for being here and talking to us together. Thank you to the Parliament colleagues who manage the press room, the interpreters, the speaker kindly, and we will meet again at the midday readout in Brussels.

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