Letter from Brussels - September 2025

If you were ever looking for a reasonably priced hotel around here, then book for next August. The main institutions – EU Parliament and EU Commission – all but shut down as do the various NGO and lobby organisations with offices here. But the claxon has sounded, and the tens of thousands of people immersed in the turning wheels of the European Union are back in town. That includes our MEPs who are beginning the second year of their five-year term here, having used the first year to find their bearings. Out of sight, out of mind means that the work that goes on in Brussels tends to go unnoticed at home. When the politicians are running for re-election in 2029, no doubt they will be greeted on the canvass with voters wondering where they have been for five years and what have they been doing in Brussels.
I will leave the politicians to defend themselves, but it is fair to say observing them up close here, they are constantly on the move. It can be a gruelling schedule and when I host groups of farmers looking to meet with our MEPs, while always obliging they tend to be running from one meeting to the next. They do welcome engagement and feedback because they need to be informed. The committees are where the heavy lifting is done. For instance, there are over 70 MEPs from the EU27 of all hues sitting on the agriculture committee who discuss, debate and propose amendments to the clunky reams of detailed legalistic EU Commission proposals which are churned out daily regarding various aspects of the food supply chain.
That is where we – the farm and co operative representative organisations – come in, liaising with MEPs and governments with our own views and opinions on what would work best for farmers and the environment. Other interest groups are also in the mix giving their opinions, which often differ greatly from the needs of farmers. It’s democracy at work but it can be exhausting in the aim of reaching compromise. Compromise is at the heart of EU legislative proposals. With 720 MEPs representing 450 million citizens, it is not often that straightforward and can take years to accept or reject. It is probably why ordinary citizens take little interest in what goes on.
But go on it will and here’s hoping the MEPs had a good rest because there is an agenda of work awaiting them (most importantly the next Common Agricultural Policy) which, arguably, will have the biggest impact on farming and food production for a generation to come than at any point in recent years.