Access To Land
Our petition, Preserving and managing farmland as our common wealth, will be presented before the Committee of Petitions of the European Parliament on 13 July 2016.
In February 2015, Via Campesina Europe, Terre de liens, AIAB and Regionalwert AG submitted the petition to the Petition Committee, as a way to invite land issues on the agenda of the Parliament. About 80 European and national civil society organisations - farmers’ unions, rural development organisations, environmental associations, human rights organisations - supported the petition.
In a context where the Commission and the Parliament are reluctant to debate, regulate and plan land policies on a European level, the petition advocates that farmland is indeed a European issue, and a major issue for agricultural and rural renewal. It asks the Parliament to monitor the land situation and assess the impact of existing EU policies, to make the best of the current CAP to support peasant farming, agroecology and entry into farming, as well as to support the adoption of an ambitious communication and strategy on “land as a resource”, and to put forward a Directive on fair and sustainable access to farmland.
The hearing will be an opportunity to present our main analyses and requests to the Parliament, as well as to engage with a representative of the European Commission. We will call upon Members of the European Parliament to start addressing land issues in Europe, both by assessing the situation and impact of existing EU policies, and by planning for adequate policies and legislations.
Download below our statement submitted to the Committee on Petitions in preparation for the meeting, as well as speeches made before the Committee.
Read here a short report of the hearing on the website of the European Coordination Via Campesina.
Speech_MartadiPierro_ECVC_Hearing_July2016
Statement_PETI_Committee_July2016
Data_food4thoughts_European_farmland
Speech_SjoerdWartena_TDL_Hearing_July2016
