The Czechia will limit the supply of imported food, deputies decided warn EU countries

On Wednesday, the Chamber of Deputies approved the SPD's proposal for a mandatory share of sales of certain basic foods of Czech origin in stores over 400 m2. From 2022, this mandatory share should be at least 55 percent. According to Hospodářské noviny, eight EU states have already expressed reservations about the planned quotas, according to which it would be discrimination of foreign products, which is inadmissible on the EU market.

According to the proposal of Radim Fiala (SPD), from 2022, 55 percent of selected food from Czech production would have to be in larger stores, then the ratio would grow by three percentage points per year until 2028, when it would be at least 73 percent. Members of the SPD, ANO, ČSSD, KSČM and Václav Klaus Jr. voted in favor of the quotas. The amendment will now be discussed by the Senate.

On Wednesday, the Minister of Agriculture Miroslav Toman (CSSD) called on the deputies to be a bit nationalist when it comes to Czech food. As an example, he said that when they have coffee in the Chamber, they add German milk to it, which, according to him, proves that the law is needed.

The introduction of quotas should concern more than 100 of the more than 15,000 types of food sold that can be produced in the Czech Republic. These are large categories, such as the main types of meat or vegetables. You can find an overview of them in the list below.

Quotas should not apply to retail outlets with an area of ​​up to 400 square meters or to specialist shops. The exact definition of a specialized store should be determined by the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Association of Trade and Tourism (SOCR CR), the Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Industry and Trade have repeatedly opposed the introduction of quotas for selected basic foodstuffs. According to them, quotas will damage Czech customers, endanger exports and violate the rules of the EU's single internal market, as the European Commission and the Committee on European Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies have repeatedly pointed out.

According to Hospodářské noviny , eight EU countries expressed reservations about quotas in a letter to the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Jaroslav Faltýnek (ANO). If the law is passed, according to the ambassadors of Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium and the representatives of the ambassadors of Poland and Spain, who signed the letter, there could be clear discrimination against foreign products, which is unacceptable in the Union's single market.

According to Trinity Bank economist Lukáš Kovanda, if the European Union evaluates quotas as discrimination against foreign products on the Czech market, it can impose economic or trade sanctions on the Czechia. Ultimately, you would be paid again by the Czech taxpayer, warns the economist.

The law increasing the share of domestic food in shops was also approved in June 2016 by the Romanian Parliament, for example. The law ordered supermarkets to make 51 percent of their meat, fruit, eggs and vegetables sold in Romania. Romania eventually abolished its domestic food quota due to a threat to the EU Court of Justice.

This is no longer a small but a real big home for the Czech agri-food lobby. At first glance, this may sound nice, but the consequences of this ill-considered move will be far-reaching, with a major impact on the budget and citizens.

The main agricultural employer, the Agrofert Group, told ČTK that it had nothing to do with the amendment to the law.

The group's spokesman Karel Hanzelka said, we do not assume that the new legislation would in any way benefit us and change our position on the market. However, we understand the effort to support Czech companies, and we do not mean ourselves.

SOCR President Tomáš Prouza considers the proposal concerning any mandatory introduction of Czech food on store shelves to be absolutely absurd and misguided.In a situation where the Czech Republic is only 30 to 40 percent self-sufficient in a number of key foods, it is also very dangerous, repeated the union's president Tomáš Prouza. It will lead to the fact that the consumer will no longer find a lot of products on the shelves of Czech shops and will pay significantly more for those that remain. Finding fruit and vegetables will become a new sport,he warned.

According to the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic, which supports the proposal, there will be no reduction in the range or an increase in the price for the end customer.

Gabriela Dlouhá, secretary of the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic, told ČTK in December, we have to say that it is strange that the European Union and some EU Member States are commenting on a law that has not yet entered into force or validity, because the legislative process and the political debate are still ongoing, in which we are trying to engage arguments such as reducing the carbon footprint and strengthening food self-sufficiency and security.

Dlouha said, in conclusion, we must completely reject the claim that the approval of the law would reduce the range, because bananas or mandarins are not really concerned, quality - local food is very high quality or increase the price for the final consumer.

For many items in the list, the Czechia is not yet self-sufficient in addition to some fruits and vegetables, for example in pork.

However, the proposal to introduce quotas for the foods on the list below and their producers, processors and producers respectively envisages significant potential to increase their domestic production while maintaining the emphasis on quality and freshness (minimum time lag from slaughter / harvest, processing or production to supply to the final consumer through retail and the minimum need for long-term and / or long-distance transport and the associated carbon footprint).

How specifically to achieve this, however, is not clear. In December, the on-line daily Aktuálně.cz contacted Fiala from the SPD with questions that aim to explain to customers the more specific operation of food quotas.

These were, for example, questions on how it would be planned to cover the market for fruit or vegetables, which are available in the Czech Republic only during a small part of the year. How to ensure, when introducing quotas, that while reducing foreign competition, basic foodstuffs will not become more expensive and their quality will not deteriorate. Whether fines are planned for transactions for non-compliance with the statutory share.

Although Fiala's secretariat confirmed the delivery of the questions, they have not yet been answered.

Agrarian analyst Petr Havel believes that it is not possible to fully achieve the announced 55 percent share of selected foods on the domestic market in a year's time.

For example, although some politicians claim that the Czech Republic can easily increase pork production capacity, in practice it is very difficult considerable investment is needed, the public rejects pigs' because they stink, he warned online Havel.

According to him, quotas cannot be enforced by law. Although increasing self-sufficiency is desirable for some items. But it must be at the consumer's discretion and also in some reasonable 'start-up curve. As an analyst, he mentions the extension of the fruit and vegetable harvest, new technologies, the expansion of the range of cultivated varieties and more funding.

Foodstuffs from Czech production to which the quotas are to apply are

• Beans, green

• Peas, green

• Other green legumes

• Beans, dried

• Broad beans, dried

• Lentils, dried

• Peas, dried

• Soybeans

• Flax seeds

• Mustard seeds

• Sunflower seeds

• Other oil seeds nec

• Asparagus

• Cabbage

• Cauliflower and broccoli

• Lettuce

• Chicory

• Spinach

• Other leafy or petiole and stem vegetables

• Chili peppers and sweet peppers (Capsicum only)

• Salad cucumbers and pickled cucumbers

• Eggplant

• Tomatoes

• Other fruit vegetables nec

• Carrots, turnips and turnips

• Garlic

• Onion

• Leeks and other alliaceous vegetables

• Other root and tuber vegetables (not high in starch or inulin)

• Potatoes

• Mushrooms

• Vegetables, fresh, nec

• Table grapes, fresh

• Other grapes, fresh

• Apples

• Pears

• Apricots

• Cherries

• Peaches

• Plums

• Other stone fruit nec

• Raspberries

• Strawberries

• Other berries and fruits of the genus Vaccinium nec

• Hazelnuts

• Walnuts

• Chillies and sweet peppers, dry (only Capsicum peppers), raw

• Chicken eggs in shells, fresh

• Eggs of other poultry, in shell, fresh

• Natural honey

• Food products, incl. related services and works

• Beef, fresh or chilled

• Pork, fresh or chilled

• Mutton, fresh or chilled

• Goat meat, fresh or chilled

• Edible offal of bovine animals, swine, sheep, goats, horses and other equines, fresh or chilled

• Beef, frozen

• Pork, frozen

• Mutton, frozen

• Goat meat, frozen

• Meat and edible meat offal (excluding poultry), fresh, chilled or frozen nec

• Beef, sheep, goat or pig fat

• Poultry meat, fresh or chilled

• Poultry meat, frozen

• Edible poultry offal

• Pork, cuts, salted, dried or smoked (bacon and leg)

• Beef, salted, dried or smoked

• Other meat and edible meat offal, salted, in brine, dried or smoked (excluding pork and beef); edible flours and meals of meat or meat offal

• Sausages and similar products, of meat, meat offal or blood

• Other prepared or preserved meat, meat offal or blood, excluding prepared meat or meat offal dishes

• Frozen potatoes

• Dried potatoes, whether or not cut or sliced ​​but not further prepared

• Dried potatoes in the form of flour, meal, flakes, granules and pellets

• Prepared or preserved potatoes

• Tomato juice

• Grape juice

• Apple juice

• Mixtures of fruit and vegetable juices

• Other fruit and vegetable juices

• Vegetables, frozen

• Preserved vegetables

• Dried vegetables

• Sliced ​​and packaged vegetables and fruits

• Beans preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid, excluding prepared vegetable dishes

• Peas, preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid, excluding prepared vegetable dishes

• Other vegetables (excluding potatoes), preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid, excluding prepared vegetable dishes

• Vegetables (excluding potatoes), fruit, nuts and other edible parts of plants, prepared or preserved by vinegar or acetic acid

• Fruit and nuts, uncooked or cooked or frozen

• Marmalades, jams, jellies, fruit spreads, fruit and nut purée and pastes

• Other prepared, dried or preserved fruits and nuts

• Other animal fats and oils and their fractions, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified

• Sunflower oil, crude

• Rape, colza and mustard oil, crude

• Sunflower - seed oil and its fractions, refined but not chemically modified

• Rape, colza and mustard oil and fractions thereof, refined but not chemically modified

• Other oils and their fractions, refined but not chemically modified; solid vegetable fats and other vegetable oils (excluding corn oil) and their fractions, refined but not chemically modified, nec

• Margarine and similar edible fats

• Processed liquid milk

• Milk and cream of a fat content by weight of> 6%, not concentrated nor sweetened

• Skimmed milk and cream, in solid form

• Whole milk and cream, in solid form

• Butter and dairy spreads

• Cheese and curd

• Milk and cream, concentrated or containing added sugar or other sweetening matter, other than dried

• Yoghurt and other fermented or acidified milk or cream

• Whey

• Dairy products nec

• Ice cream and similar products

• Wheat or meslin flour

• Other cereal flours

• Vegetable flour and semolina

• Mixes for the preparation of bakery products

• Wheat groats and meal

• Groats, meal and pellets of cereals nec

• Breakfast cereals and other cereal grain products

• Starches; inulin; wheat gluten; dextrins and other modified starches

• Glucose and glucose syrup; fructose and fructose syrup; invert sugar; sugars and sugar syrups nec

• Corn oil

• Bread, fresh

• Other bakery and confectionery products, fresh

• Rusks, toasted bread

• Gingerbread and the like; sweet biscuits; waffles and wafers

• Other dry or preserved bakery wares

• Confectionery (incl. White chocolate), not containing cocoa

• Fruit, nuts, fruit - peel and other parts of plants, preserved by sugar

• Herbal teas

• Table vinegar and substitutes for it obtained from acetic acid

• Prepared sauces; mixed condiments and mixed seasonings; mustard flour and meal and prepared mustard

• Food salt

• Soups, broths and broth preparations

• Eggs, not in shell, and egg yolks, fresh or preserved; eggs in shell, boiled or preserved; egg albumin

• Yeast (active or inactive); other single-cell micro-organisms, dead; prepared baking powders