b'GIANT VIEWSBY: CESAR GONZALEZNINE YEARS IN THE MAKING! the upcoming European Parliament elec- Parliament without whom the posi-tions (in 2019), the European Commissiontive final outcome would not have been already in 2018 decided to freeze the dos- achievable. From the seed sector, both sier and have the new Commission sortEuroseeds and the Seed Association of things out. So, we had to wait until 2020Ukraine have engaged in many construc-and the new Commission firmly in placetive debates with lawmakers and other to resume the work and proceed with theinterested stakeholders in order to high-request. light the importance and the benefits of Based on the positive results ofthe equivalence:the field inspections and following theOn the one hand, EU-based compa-appropriate legislative procedure, thenies have heavily invested in seed pro-Commission proposed in February toduction facilities in Ukraine to reduce grant cereal seed equivalence to Ukraine.production risks caused by the more and The Council unanimously decided tomore frequent extreme weather events in treat the proposal as a technical matterEurope, especially for maize seed produc-Cesar Gonzalez, Manager Public Affairs and engage in discussions with the othertion, and to avoid negative effects for their at Euroseeds EU Institutions right from the start tocustomersEuropean maize farmers. speed things up. The Parliament, how- On the other hand, Ukraine has been able O nthe7thofOct.2020,theever, decided to follow the ordinary pro- to adapt their rules in order to make them European Parliament formallycedure and first discuss it internally and,compatible with the (not-always-easy-to-adopted its position supportingforemost politically, prior to taking a deci- meet) EU standards. As a consequence, the Commissions proposal to grant equiv- sion on the issue. equivalence will not only contribute to alence to cereal seed produced in UkraineDuring two very interesting debateshigher availability of high-quality maize following a positive report from thein the Agriculture Committee of theseed for EU farmers and support the Agriculture Committee. The vote repre- European Parliament, various MEPs anddevelopment of new market opportuni-sents the end of the saga in the Europeangroups criticised the proposal as beingties for the seed sector; it was also highly Parliament. I believe it is fair to congratu- contrary to the (economic) interest ofdeserved and a logical consequence of late first both the unit in charge of seedsEurope in general and of some of theirthe professional transformation of the at the European Commission and MEPconstituents in particular. From theirUkrainian seed sector and legislation. In Veronika Vrecionov, the rapporteur ofpoint of view, despite the establishment offact, the equivalence proposal actually is the dossier in the European Parliament,the DCFTA between the EU and Ukraine,the fundamental proof that in some cases for the strong defence of their positivetrade and competition should only workthe rather high EU standards can actually position. to open new markets for the EU but notshape politics, economics and product For those who might not be fullythe other way around. qualities in third countries, sometimes familiarwiththistopic,UkraineClearly, the current grim economicbased on respective investment decisions requested the cereal seed equivalenceoutlook due to the COVID situation butof EU companies and their partners in way back in 2011, which officially trig- also overarching European discussionsthose third countries.gered the start of the process. Theon strategic sovereignty, the need toWhat all of this shows is how many European Commission sent a dele- protect Europe from imports that mayups and downs there are in the legisla-gation to perform an audit in 2015be produced under different yet equiv- tive procedures and how easily a techni-which concluded positively about thealent regulatory requirements, and thecal debate can become political with very equivalence. Meanwhile, the EU andwish to please specific national or sectordifferentiated opinions. In these cases, it Ukraine also discussed and signed aninterests all contributed to this criticismis the willingness of the institutions to Association Agreement, including aand the consequent proposal to simplyengage, as well as the work of the con-Deep and Comprehensive Free Tradereject the Commissions proposal. cerned stakeholders, associations like Area (DCFTA) between both blocs andThe European Commission defendedEuroseeds and the Seed Association of everything seemed going smoothly. its proposal with very good arguments,Ukraine, that may help to move discus-However, due to some later differ- and so did the rapporteur and sev- sions back on course and finally advance ences of opinion about the DCFTA anderal other Members of the Europeanin the right direction. 40IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'