“Ukraine is the ‘granary of Europe’. The war in that country, together with other factors, can have a huge impact on food prices on the continent,” Piotr Całbecki, Marshal of the Kujawian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and member of the European Committee of the Regions, emphasised.
He announced at the European Municipal Congress in Mikolajki that he would be a lobby correspondent for the Committee of the Regions’ opinion on Europe’s resilience and food security in the context of the war in Ukraine. The Marshal’s opinion will be forwarded to the EU institutions as the official opinion of the European regional and local authorities after the vote by the Committee of the Regions.
“We know that Ukraine is the granary of Europe and the world. The current situation is likely to have a very strong impact on the productivity of agricultural production in Ukraine and will also have an impact on the production of plant protection products and fertilisers. If we multiply all this together with an increase in energy prices, for example, but not only, it can have a huge impact on food prices in Europe and the availability of food,” Całbecki said.
“Together with the European Parliament, the Committee of the Regions and the European Commission, we need to find an answer quickly, what we need to do next, what strategy we need to pursue to make this resilience effective,” he said.
He added that no one knew how the war would end and how long it would last.
“We all want Ukraine to win as soon as possible, but the conflict could drag on,” he said.
The Committee of the Regions is an advisory body of the EU comprising the local and regional authorities of the 27 EU countries. The European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament are obliged to consult the Committee in the legislative process on matters of local and regional authorities.
The European Municipal Congress is organised by the Institute of Eastern Studies. As far as the formula is concerned, it refers to the Economic Forum in Karpacz. This year’s congress was held under the motto “Building the Community of the Future.”